History Music / ConfessionExecutiveCommitteeLoveSeries

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/kokuhaku_no_oto.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:The core cast.[[note]]Couples from the left: [[BetaCouple Yuu Setoguchi and Natsuki Enomoto]], [[InsecureLoveInterest Souta Mochizuki and Akari Hayasaka]], and [[CannotSpitItOut Miou Aida and Haruki Serizawa]]. Not pictured: [[LoveTriangle Koyuki, Hina, and Kotaro]], [[TwiceShy Sena and Midori]], [[ILoveYouBecauseICantControlYou Ken and Arisa]], [[CountryMouse Hiyori]], [[IdolSinger Yuujirou and Aizou]], Kodai.[[/note]]]]

''Confession Executive Committee'' (''Kokuhaku Jikkou Iinkai'' in Japanese) is a multi-platform franchise that began life as series of music videos produced by {{Music/HoneyWorks}}, depicting a series of events happening to a few groups of teenagers.

As of 2019, the series has been split into two storylines within the same continuity:
* The '''Confession Executive Committee ~Love Series~''' (''Kokuhaku Jikkou Iinkai: Ren'ai Series'' in Japanese, and officially known as the ''Confess Your Love Committee ~Romance Series~'' in English), the main body of work which is a romantic story of the various students of Sakuragaoka High School and their love dilemmas.
* The '''Confession Executive Committee ~Idol Series~''' (''Kokuhaku Jikkou Iinkai ~Idol Series~''), which follows several {{Idol Singer}}s and features in universe music videos made by them. Most prominent of this series is LIP×LIP, who have the majority of the videos and were the first of the series to get massively popular. There isn't a lot of romance coming from the actual characters...yet.

In the beginning, the series was primarily Music/{{Vocaloid}}-based--mostly featuring GUMI and, to a lesser extent, Miku, Len, V flower, and IA. However, as time went on, the series began using collaboration artists ([=CHiCO=], sana, various musicians and seiyuu) instead, with a Vocaloid cover as an alternate version.

Most of the songs are shared between [=HoneyWorks=]' Niconico and Youtube accounts, though there are some songs that are exclusive to the Niconico accounts and the albums. The Vocaloid songs can be found on the Youtube accounts, while the human versions are featured on their Niconico playlists. The songs without [=PVs=] and the drama segments, however, are usually found on doujin [=CDs=] or compilation albums.

The series has also produced several novels and comics (called "Short Stories"), which explore some of the songs' narratives and character backgrounds in greater detail. An anime film series for the franchise expands upon these materials, which ran two movies in Spring and Fall 2016, animated by Qualia Animation. The first, ''I've Always Liked You'', adapts the events of "Confession Rehearsal" and part of "A Solution for Jealousy", while the second installment (''The Moment You Fall in Love'') adapts the "Right Now, I'm in Love" and "Triangle Jealousy" songs. A television anime, ''Our Love Has Always Been 10 Centimeters Apart.'', came out in the Fall 2017 Anime season, which centers around "First Love Picture Book" and "Our Minute and One Second". All three animated media were distributed by Aniplex,subtitled and streamed on Website/{{Crunchyroll}}. The latter is also featured with exclusive rights on the Creator/PrimeVideo streaming service.

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:List of song titles]]

->The songs not done with Vocaloid/don't have Vocaloid versions are italicized

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ciRrkoK5PA First Love Picture Book]] (Hatsukoi no Ehon)
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNkL6A1WRY8 Confession Rehearsal]] (Kokuhaku Yokou Renshuu)
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzAw3E4UIJ4 Confession Rehearsal -another story-]] (Kokuhaku Yokou Renshuu -another story-)
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0xeCgry3nE A Solution for Jealousy]] (Yakimochi no Kotae)
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4IWNwXFJHY A Solution for Jealousy -another story-]] (Yakimochi no Kotae -another story-)
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6d2WtIUxX0 Embarrassment-Hiding Adolescence]] (Terekakushi Shishunki)[[note]] First appears as a song in ''[[VideoGame/HatsuneMikuProjectDiva Hatsune Miku Project mirai 2]]''[[/note]]
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11yuuZSYSew Diagnosis: Lovesickness]] (Byoumei Koi Wazurai)
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yOBWgSPrYVA Confession Rival Declaration]] (Kokuhaku Rival Sengen)
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvG1NqgQ1zo A Teacher, Detained]] (Inokori Sensei)
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4Y1LjoHcik Friday's "Good morning"]] (Kinyoubi no Ohayou)
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IO22qjmEURc Friday's "Good morning" -another story-]] (Kinyoubi no Ohayou -another story-)
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNEVPxh0c-I Goodbye, Our Mutual Unrequited Love]] (Sayonara Ryou Kataomoi)
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGNl3ZxhpNg Right Now, I'll Fall in Love.]] (Ima Suki ni Naru.)
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODoqYvJGg8c Right Now, I'll Fall in Love -triangle story- ]] (Ima suki ni naru -triangle story-)
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIKjg5ZzrwA Tokyo Summer Session]]
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDKWkleZoxI Mean Encounter]] (Ijiwaru na Deai)
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HznlRpIySwY Assertion of the Heart]] (Haato no Shuchou)
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzaHCzwt-wE Blooming into the Colour of Love]] (Koi-iro ni Sake)[[note]]Opening Theme of ''I've Always Liked you''[[/note]]
* ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUveuR0_AAc Our Minute and a Second]]'' (Ippun Ichibyou Kimi to Boku no)[[note]]Ending theme of ''I've Always Liked You''[[/note]]
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnZZPJ3RckA Sunday's Secret]] (Nichiyoubi no Himitsu)[[note]]Included as a bonus on the ''I've Always Liked You'' DVD set[[/note]]
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTDXwn9_878 I Was Supposed to Hate You.]] (Daikirai na Hazu Datta.)[[note]]The ending theme to ''The Moment You Fall in Love.''[[/note]]
* ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FG8ONKAuPx0 Senpai.]]''[[note]]Opening theme for the ''The Moment You Fall in Love.'' movie[[/note]]
* ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AkRPlTrf3d8 I Want to Become Cute]]'' (Kawaiiku Naritai)
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQF7_PduR4E The Day When I Call Your Name]] (Boku ga Namae wo Yobu Hi)
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9TPB7GXEqI The Day When I Knew Love]] (Watashi ga Koi wo Shiru Hi)
* ''[[http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm30641721 The Red Thread on Flowers]]'' (Hana ni Akai Ito)[[note]]Insert song for ''The Moment You Fall in Love''[[/note]]
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNLtEqBbUg4 Romeo]]
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Xi6kXiGsVQ Understand This Youth]] (Kore Seishun Understand)
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zp01XrMxEeQ Nonfantasy]][[note]]OP of ''Our Love Has Always Been 10 Centimeters Apart.''[[/note]]
* ''[[http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm32352047 Tokyo Winter Session]]''[[note]]ED of ''Our Love Has Always Been 10 Centimeters Apart.''[[/note]]
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3AC16_0Zo9A Irreplaceable]] (Hitsuyofukaketsu)
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZzRi-4DDEo Do You Hear Me]] (Kikoemasu ka)
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfFySpNE2r0 My Idol Declaration]] (Watashi, Idol Sengen)
* [[https://youtube.com/watch?v=2LPb7XZsfvo Saucy Honey]] (Namaiki Honey)
* [[http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm33978206 Dream Fanfare]] (Yume Fanfare)[[note]]OP of the unrelated anime ''Hashitsuzukete Yokatte''[[/note]]
* ''[[https://youtube.com/watch?utm_source=tw&v=Ev98u-ZiT18 Little Lion]]'' (Chiisana Lion)
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8s6349tDKs Mister Darling]]
* Thank You for Choosing Me. (Erandekure Arigatou.)
* Yappa Saikyou! [[note]]Opening Theme of the 2019 Commercial Food High School Grand Prix[[/note]]
* ''Rodeo''
* Choco-Kano
* Saucy Honey -another story- (Namaiki Honey-another story-)

!! No PV
* ''First Love Picture Book -another story-'' (Hatsukoi no Ehon -another story-)
* ''Embarrassment-Hiding Anniversary'' (Terekakushi Kinenbi)
* ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUeyhlYR2GE Future Chart]]'' (Mirai Zu)
* Triangle Jealousy (Sankaku Jealousy)
** ''Triangle Jealousy -Another Story-'' (Sankaku Jealousy -Another Story-)
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfEWT34hyQM Propose]]
* ''Friday's Good Morning -Love Story-''
* ''Destiny'' [[note]] ''I'e Always Liked You.'' insert song[[/note]]
* ''Little Regret''
* ''Suki to Suki no Houteshiki''[[note]] ''The Moment You Fall in Love.'' insert song[[/note]]
* Judge☆
* Princess of the Moon (Tsuki no Hime)
* White Day Kiss
* ''Fulfillment Love (Renai Jyoujuu)''
* Love/Hate Majority

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Official [=CDs=]]]
!!! Character Albums
* ''Am I Not Good Enough? ~Kokuhaku Jikkou Iinkai Character Songs Collection~ '' (''Boku ja Dame Desu Ka?'')
* ''Nandodatte, Suki. ~Kokuhaku Jikkou Iinkai~''
* ''Docchi no kiss ka, Erabe yo.''

!!! Singles
* Diagnosis: Love Sickness
* Embarrassment-Hiding Adolescence
* Confession Rival Declaration
* ''Kawaiiku Naritai/Terekakushi Kinenbi''
* Boku ga Namae wo Yobu Hi/Watashi ga Koi wo Shiru Hi
* ''Blooming into the Color of Love''
* ''Our Minute and a Second''
* ''Senpai.''
* Judge☆/Tsuki no Hime
* ''Nonfantasy/Irreplaceable''
* ''Tokyo Winter Session''
* Choco-Kano/White Day Kiss
* ''Namaiki Honey/Renai Jyoujuu''
* ''Yume Fanfare''
* ''Chiisana Lion''
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Animation]]
* ''I've Always Liked You.'' (''Zutto Mae Kara Suki Deshita.'') (Yuu/Natsuki arc, parts of the Souta/Akari arc)
* ''The Moment You Fall in Love.'' (''Suki ni Naru Sono Shunkan wo.'') (Hina/Koyuki/Kotaro arc)
* ''Our Love Has Always Been 10 Centimeters Apart.'' (''Itsu Datte Bokura no Koi 10 Centi Datta.'') (Haruki/Miou arc)
* ''Friday's Good Mornings'' (''Kinyoubi no Ohayou'') (Bonus animation)
* ''Romeo--MUSIC VIDEO MAKING''
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Other Media]]
!!! Comics (Prologue and Short Story vomic)
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3bLuMsUbmI Confession Rehearsal]]
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqpSIZHQDpY A Solution for Jealousy]]
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SYYVWZhrzQ Right Now, I'm in Love.]]
** [[https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1822263284454220&id=1110645192282703&refsrc=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F&_rdr Romeo]]([[https://m.bilibili.com/video/av9275618.html alt]])
!!! Novels
* '''''Confession Rehearsal'' series:'''
** ''[[http://renna-translations.tumblr.com/kokuhakunovel Confession Rehearsal]]''
** ''[[http://renna-translations.tumblr.com/yakimochinovel A Solution for Jealousy]]''
** ''First Love's Picture Book''
** ''Right Now, I'm in Love.''
** ''Friday's "Good Morning"''
** ''Blooming into the Color of Love''
** ''Assertion of the Heart''
** ''Mean Encounter''
** ''The Day When I Called Your Name''
** ''I Was Supposed to Hate You.''

* '''Anime Novelizations:'''
** ''I've Always Liked You.''
** ''The Moment You Fall in Love.''
** ''Our Love Has Always Been 10cm Apart.''
* '''Other:'''
** ''Watashi, Idol Sengen''[[note]]Short light novel packaged with the [=CHiCO=] with [=HoneyWorks=] album ''Watashi no Someru i no Uta''[[/note]]
!!! Miscellaneous
** LIP×LIP Radio[[note]]''namahousou'' that came with ''Docchi no kiss ka, Erabe yo.''[[/note]]
** ''70 Okubun no 1 no Koi'' [[note]]stage play covering the main three arcs[[/note]]

[[/folder]]
-----
!! The series provides examples of:
* AbortedDeclarationOfLove:
** ''Confession Rehearsal'' opens with Natsuki confessing her feelings for Yuu. Suddenly embarrassed, she immediately passes it off as a joke, saying that the LoveConfession was just a rehearsal for someone else.
** Double Subverted in "Right Now, I'll Fall in Love"; Hina writes a love letter and is about to confess to Koyuki, but as this happens during "Confession Rehearsal" and "Confession Rival Declaration", she hides it behind her back since she sees Koyuki's [[DidNotGetTheGirl not in any mood]] to listen to a love confession. But when she sees how upset Koyuki is, she accidentally blurts out a confession anyway, which [[ObliviousToLove Koyuki misinterprets]] as comforting him. Hina never lets him think otherwise.
** At the end of "The Day When I Called Your Name", Souta falls asleep before he can confess to Akari again over the phone, with his message still ready and typed up on the screen. It's not clear if he stopped himself or he actually just drifted off, though.
* AcmeProducts: As with all of [=HoneyWorks=]' later songs, [=HoneyWorks=] (or Haniwa, occasionally) is not simply a band. It has brand and merchandise ''everywhere'' in the setting, from food to makeup to even radio.
* AdvertisedExtra: Koyuki ends up being this to some extent. In most merchandise he's seen with the six core characters since he's friends with them, but he really has minimal bearing on the plot besides his already resolved feelings for Natsuki and his being crushed on by Hina. Especially in the latter's case, as he's supposed to be part of the series LoveTriangle yet has little to no say in it (because he doesn't even know he's ''in'' one).
* AlbumTitleDrop: ''Boku ja Dame Desu Ka?'' is the very last line of "A Solution for Jealousy", and as it's featured as the first song on the CD, it's even more poignant.
* AllJustADream: The majority of "Nonfantasy's" PV takes place inside Hiyori's dreams, as she sleeps in front of the TV.
* AllLoveIsUnrequited:
** Goes in a line, practically. We have Kotaro, who has a crush on Hina, who likes Koyuki, who's in love with Natsuki, who's going out with Yuu.
* AloneAmongTheCouples:
** "Blooming into the Colour of Love" cements this trope with Yamamoto, as near the end he's taking a picture of all of the major couples in the story yet has no pairing of his own.[[note]]Karen from "Assertion of the Heart" could count too, but she hasn't been focused on[[/note]] And even among his friends group, Kotaro still has Hina (albeit in a love triangle) and Shibaken has his story with Arisa. Even the end of the video gets in on this by introducing a ''new'' couple's love story[[note]]That is, the story about Hiyori, Aizou, and Yuujirou[[/note]] near the end.
** In the main group, it's Koyuki who ends up as this, since the object of his affections is already in a relationship. "Blooming into the Color of Love" emphasizes it, as in the photo of all the main couples he's just [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/koiiro.png standing awkwardly]] next to Souta, and in "Senpai." [[spoiler: he graduates without forming a romantic relationship with his only other prospective love interest, Hina.]] The way he looks at the three main couples in "Understand This Youth" implies that he's actually upset about his circumstances, at least a little bit.
* AlwaysInClassOne: Hina's cast of characters are in class 1-1, as we know from both the [=PVs=] and the novel.
* AmIJustAToyToYou: "Mean Encounter" has Arisa constantly asking this to Shibaken, to see if he's serious about his feelings for her. The PV ends with Shibaken being confronted by some of his exes, and having to sweet talk his way out of trouble. Arisa at that point happens to be nearby, and even though she's starting to like him back, witnessing the scene causes her to wonder if the nice words he's said to her were all a lie.
* AmusementPark: Sena and Midori go on their first date at one in "Sunday's Secret". It's not until several dates afterwards that they start officially going out.
* AnachronicOrder: The songs generally do not follow a strict chronology. For instance, "First Love Picture Book"(the first song in the series) reveals that Miou and Haruki do not get together in high school, while several later songs explore their CannotSpitItOut dynamic.
** There are also a couple of later songs which revist Natsuki's confession to Yuu at the end of "Confession Rehearsal" from other characters' perspectives (specifically Koyuki's in "Confession Rival Declaration" and Hina's in "Right Now, I'll Fall in Love").
* AnAesop: The overarching one is "going for your goals, even if you don't know the outcome, is better than staying still and not doing it at all".
** Miou (and as we later see, Haruki) regretted everyday that she wasn't able to overcome her mental blocks so that she could be with the one she loves. Sure it might have worked out in the end [[spoiler:since Haruki came back for a brief time so they could talk things out]], but she had no idea that would even happen; she could have gone the rest of her life pining for a love that would never be realized.
** Akechi tells Souta as much before he goes on to confess to Akari in "A Solution for Jealousy".
** Koyuki decides he wants to change himself to go after Natsuki, the girl he loves; and although he knows that he has no chance with her, his physical overhaul did wonders, and he's not looked on with pity or as a weakling anymore.
* AnnoyingYoungerSibling:
** Natsuki's younger brother Kotarou has a HairTriggerTemper and frequently bickers with his Natsuki by calling her names. He gets so loud that the neighbors (Yuu and Hina) could hear them fight.
** Yuu's younger sister Hina is very spoiled, and frequently uses her brother's stuff without permission, occasionally breaking them. In the vomic, she remarked how Kotaro is such a brat, and Yuu's response was pretty much, "You're one to talk."
** Souta's younger sister is this. In addition, he has a meddlesome older sister, and both girls love to pick on him.
** Sena is revealed to have Mona in "I Want to Become Cute", and often gets into fights with her. However, they seem to get along decently.
* ArcSymbol: The stairway on Haruki and Miou's route home seem to be this for the pair, as it's present in every video they're in and something of an iconic scene portraying their "so close, but yet so far" relationship.
* ArcWords:
** "10 centimeters" for Miou and Haruki's arc. It references the fact that they're always so close from telling each other how they feel but are too shy to actually say it, and also because their hands are ''literally'' centimeters away from touching each other's when they sit next to each other. Even the anime that adapts their arc references the phrase.
* ArmorPiercingQuestion: The first time Shibasaki tries to talk to Arisa, he tries to flirt with her and chat her up. Arisa simply asks Shibasaki if he finds any of this boring, and from then on he pursues her.
* ArtEvolution: The series' music videos were somewhat sketchy and monochromatic in the beginning. As time went on, the art got more detailed and streamlined, and most music videos were in full color though they still retained some monochromatic scenes. Compare one of [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/hatsukoi_stairs.png Hatsukoi no Ehon]]'s scenes to its [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/hatsukoi_novel_stairs.png novelization's art]], for example.
* ArtShift: Every so often, one of the [=PVs=] is done by a [=HoneyWorks=] member that's not Yamako. Sometimes it will look rough, semi-realistic, and colored with muddy tones and values (Rocoru), and other times it will look pastel with minimal shading (Mogelatte). The changes also usually have to do with the tone of the story being told.
* BaitAndSwitch: Everything leading up to the PV for "Romeo". Both the comic and the promotional material for "Romeo" portray it as a love triangle between Hiyori, Yuujirou, and Aizou with Hiyori in the center. Come the actual video for "Romeo", and Hiyori's nowhere to be seen save for a cameo; in fact the three don't interact at all as a trio, and the PV only serves as an introduction to some plotlines and character interactions.
* BlandNameProduct: Midori has a very large stash of "[[Magazine/ShonenJump Nyump]]" manga in his room.
* BelligerentSexualTension: Hina and Kotaro's relationship in a nutshell. One moment they're arguing like longtime acquaintances, the next you see that they on some level care for each other.
* BetaCouple: Yuu and Natsuki hook up very early in the series, and their relationship, while it has occasional ups and downs, doesn't involve as much drama and {{UST}} as the other couples do.
* BettyAndVeronica: For Hina's Archie, we have the ever present, PatientChildhoodLoveInterest Kotarou as her Betty, and the {{Bishounen}}, popular yet shy, and unobtainable Koyuki as her Veronica. The [[https://twitter.com/yamako2626/status/620136904571293696 store advertisements]] for [=HoneyWorks=]'s third album even tease this, given that this series' pairings become mascots for [=HoneyWorks=] albums after release: Animate's has [[https://twitter.com/yamako2626/status/633163907138347009 Hina and Koyuki]] stand together, while for Tower Records [[https://twitter.com/yamako2626/status/621239351498768388 Kotarou and Hina]] are the mascots instead.
* BlondeBrunetteRedhead: Among the three main guys, there's Haruki (blond), Souta (brunette) and Yuu (redhead - sort of). Averted with their girls though.
* BookEnds:
** The series' first release was "First Love Picture Book", which introduced us to this world through Miou and Haruki's awkward love story. Chronologically, they're also the last of the main group to try and ''finish'' theirs, as [[spoiler:they meet again 6 years later to pick up where they left off.]]
** The story of Haruki and Miou's relationship closes with a shot of Miou's book in "Our Minute and a Second", where it began with a shot of it in "First Love's Picture Book".
** "Blooming into the Color of Love's" PV begins and ends with a different set of schoolmates getting ready for the first day of school.
* CallBack:
** The picture from "Blooming into the Color of Love" reappears in "Our Minute and a Second" as a keepsake Miou has of her highschool years.
** The "10 centimeters" line from "First Love Picture Book" reappears in "Our Minute and a Second" and in "Re: First Love's Picture Book", in reference to how Miou and Haruki never could close the distance between each other [[spoiler:until they meet up again 6 years later]].
** Natsuki excuses her hasty preparation for Valentine's day with "we can just practice for it!" (''yokou renshuu'') in "Tokyo Winter Session". Miou and Haruki also do their back-to-back pose from "First Love's Picture Book", but Miou holds a red menu instead of her red yearbook.
* TheCameo: ''Dolche'''s Fuuma Shirayuki, s×c's Full Throttle 4, Virtual Johnny's Project's Asuka Kaido and Kanata Nichigoya, and Mona show up during the concert in "Yappa Saikyou!".
* CannotSpitItOut: Both Miou and Haruki, towards each other. They spend a lot of time together, talking about pointless stuff, but can't bring themselves to deal with direct confessions.
** In "First Love Picture Book", Miou sings about how she's too cowardly to confess to her crush, Haruki, and now that they've both graduated high school and parted ways, she wonders what could have happened if she did confess.
** "Goodbye, Our Mutual Unrequited Love" reveals that Haruki actually likes Miou back, but was likewise too scared to confess to her. After graduation, he moved away to another country, and one of his biggest regrets was being unable to say "I love you" to Mio. Still, he hopes that they'll meet again someday, and then he'll confess.
** They tried to sort-of confess in one of the vomics, and failed. In the video, the two were walking home together, and Miou asked Haruki if he has someone he likes, and he answered yes. He asked her the same thing, and she also answered yes. Then they both parted ways thinking the other is in love with someone else, even though they're clearly talking about each other.
** In "Tokyo Summer Session", the two went to watch fireworks together, and was looking to [[HoldingHands hold each other's hands]]. But since they're too shy to do so, Haruki instead hides his hands in his pockets, while Miou hides hers behind her back. They eventually settled with Miou [[CaughtTheHeartOnHisSleeve tugging at Haruki's sleeves]] though.
* CastHerd: Generally, most interactions and groupings follow what year the characters are in. The third years all have their small arcs going on and are involved in each other's, while the first years do the same with very minimal interference from their upperclassmen.
* CatharticScream: After Koyuki witnesses Natsuki's confession to Yu, we see that he goes to the school rooftop to yell some time afterwards.
* CharacterBlog: Sena has a real Instagram account following "Kawaiiku Naritai", which included all of the pictures seen in that song's PV.
* ChickMagnet: Koyuki after his haircut, and the [=LIP×LIP=] boys by virtue of being handsome, popular idols.
* ChildhoodFriendRomance: Yuu and Natsuki have been close friends since childhood, and their relationship eventually develops into romance. Likewise, their younger siblings have grown up together as well, although Kotaro's crush on Hina is one-sided.[[spoiler:.. at least until "It Was Supposed to be Hate" reveals that Hina now has some budding feelings for Kotaro too]].
* CleaningUpRomanticLooseEnds: Koyuki is this incarnate. In his love triangle with Hina, he mistakes her confession for pity and pushes Kotaro towards the girl, [[spoiler:ultimately leading to the latter two falling in love]]. With Natsuki and Yu he leaves them be, happy yet heartbroken. So where does that leave him by the end of the story? [[spoiler:Tokyo Winter Session solves this by introducing his third love interest.]]
* ClipShow:
** The PV for "Blooming Into the Color of Love"is pretty much this, going back and forth with scenes already shown up to that point and previewing scenes from later [=PVs=], before giving up new material in introducing Hiyori and Yuujirou.
** "Do You Hear Me's" PV is just an AMV made up of all the relevant clips from ''Our Love Has Always Been 10 Centimeters Apart.''
* CoolTeacher: Akechi Saku, who is apparently liked by all his students, and occasionally gives personal advice for his troubled students.
* {{Crossover}}: The series scores one with Sanrio Puroland, specifically with My Melody and Kuromi. [=LIP×LIP=] was the poster duo for or it, though; Yujiro repped Melody, while Aizo did the same for Kuromi.
* ADayInTheLimelight:
** "A Teacher, Detained" serves as one for Akechi-sensei, as we get a look into his and Haruki's friendship before he became a teacher and his personal feelings about certain subjects.
** For Mona, "My Idol Declaration" serves as her small peek into her world, following her through two of her live performances and how she handles herself for them.
* CreatorCameo: [=CHiCO=], who sings many of the series' songs, appears as a chibi version of her avatar in "Understand This Youth".
* {{Dedication}}: Midori's musical performance in "Sunday's Secret" appears to be one to Sena, given that the image displayed on screen while he's performing is of her.
* DidIJustSayThatOutLoud: As Souta absentmindedly looks at Akari, his "in love" train of thought spills out into the open and he tells her that he's going to "fall in love all over again" just looking at her.
* DistantFinale: [[spoiler: "Goodbye, Our Mutual, Unrequited Love" ends with Haruki coming back from America after 6 years. The end of "Ippun Ichibyou Kimi to Boku no" and parts of "First Love Picture Book" show what had happened to some of the cast at that point in time.]]
* DoubleDate: "Tokyo Summer Session" features a ''triple'' date, as the three main couples go to watch a fireworks festival. The song shows how Natsuki and Yuu's relationship is still going strong despite many minor squabbles, how Akari is beginning to reciprocate Souta's feelings for her, and how Miou and Haruki still can't move forward with their relationship because of their {{UST}}.
* DoubleMeaning: The conversation Kotarou and Koyuki have while they're watering plants in "Understand This Youth" is also implicitly a conversation about their love lives, with Koyuki unknowingly giving Kotarou some advice both on nurturing his plants and his budding love.
* DudeLooksLikeALady: A lot of Koyuki's classmates often tease him for looking so girly, especially before he had a makeover.
* EarlyBirdCameo:
** Before Hina shows up in "Embarrassment-hiding Adolescence", she gets her own profile along with the original six in ''Confession Rehearsal ZERO''.
** Koyuki shows up in "Diagnosis: Lovesickness" and "Embarrassment-Hiding Adolescence" before his song proper.
** [=LIP×LIP=] has plenty of moments before they're properly introduced. Hiyori and Yuujirou appear at the tail end of "Blooming into the Color of Love" before their feature in "Romeo" and its corresponding vomic. Yuujirou also appears (with Aizou this time) during one of Sena's photo shoots in "Sunday's Secret", and "Romeo" blares through a fast food joint (with corresponding advertisements) during the second movie.
** A CuteGlassesGirl seems to be wary of the [=LIP×LIP=] boys in the "Romeo" vomic, but she gets no further elaboration until later.
* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness:
** In the first couple of videos for "First Love Picture Book", Miou is drawn to resemble Gumi a lot more, and even had green hair in a colored picture. This is before the universe and song list got expanded, so this is understandable.
** In addition, "First Love's Picture Book" and "Confession Rehearsal" didn't have any of the main six interact with each other and kept the videos self-contained, which is especially strange considering how important their friendship was. This is {{Retcon}}ned in later installments of the franchise, which have the characters interact more during their respective arcs (especially in Haruki and Mio's case, since their arc takes place throughout all of high school).
* EnsembleCast: The meat of the story is about a group of students and their relationships with each other. All together, the main focus centers around 14 students, with each character getting at least one song explaining their sides of the story.
* EveryoneCanSeeIt:
** Because of their closeness, pretty much everyone not in the focus group of 14 thinks that Haruki and Miou are already dating, or at least preparing to.
** Kotaro's crush on Hina is well known to everyone in his friendship circle, and when [[spoiler:Hina starts developing feelings for him]], everyone notices ''that'' just as easily.
* ExpositoryHairstyleChange: Arisa puts her hair into twintails after finding some inspiration in Sena, and keeps it that way throughout high school.
* FakeBand: [=LIP×LIP=] is treated as such. They exist as a group in real life, providing songs for other projects and series, but they are always referred to as Yuujirou and Aizou instead of their seiyuu.
* FirstLove: Haruki and Miou are each other's, Natsuki is Yuu's and Koyuki's, and Koyuki is Hina's. Even after Koyuki leaves after graduation, Hina remarks that Koyuki still has (and always will have) a place in her heart.
* FlowerMotifs:
** Hina is often associated with tulips. In "Senpai.", she has a white tulip during the end, which signifies a new love. The motif gets repeated in "The Red Thread on Flowers" at that video's end, but she's seen in a red tulip first. Red tulips often signify a "perfect love", but this one wilts in favor of the white, signifying [[spoiler:Hina and Koyuki not getting together, and her growing feelings for Kotarou after Koyuki leaves]].
** Kotarou is seen next to some poppies in "Understand This Youth". Poppies can also symbolize an "idle love", which is a perfect fit for his relationship with Hina, and an even bigger fit with [[spoiler:Hina's ultimate relationship with Koyuki]], as it lingers on a set of poppies in the opening of the second movie.
* ForegoneConclusion: We already know from "First Love Picture Book" (the ''very first song in the series'') that Miou and Haruki aren't getting together during high school, so all we can do is watch them try and fail at reaching the other's heart.
** Yu and Natsuki get together in "Confession Rehearsal", well before "Confession Rival Declaration", so we know in the latter song that Koyuki's feelings for Natsuki are destined to remain unrequited.
* {{Foreshadowing}}:
** The last chorus of "Diagnosis: Lovesickness" shows Natsuki as a bride chasing Yu as a groom around. [[spoiler: In the novels, the DistantFinale takes place around the time of their actual wedding.]]
** "Embarrassment-Hiding Adolescence" quickly goes over a couple of frames explaining why Hina's crying at the end of the video that would eventually be used for "Ima Suki ni Naru", showing that she fell in love with Koyuki.
** The cover for the second [=HoneyWorks=] studio album, ''Am I Not Good Enough?'', had a picture of Akari and Souta looking away from each other under bright lights. The situation comes up again in "The Day When I Called Your Name/The Day When I Knew Love" with about the exact same positioning.
** "Blooming into the Color of love" also makes reference to the "The Day When" songs, as it shows a brief scene of Souta running in the city with a gift during Christmastime, but doesn't explain why. They also show Akari's cheek being touched by Souta and her [[LuminescentBlush reaction]] to it. The MV also shows scenes from "Senpai." that wouldn't be used in a proper video until months later.
** There's a sign in "I Was Supposed to Hate You." that announces [=LIP×LIP=] performing at Sakuragaoka's school festival, foreshadowing the fact that they're students in Hina's second year.
** Ken is seen looking at a music video featuring [=LIP×LIP=] in it with a strange expression. Take note that the video as it's shown only has Aizou in it while Ken's passing by, establishing a connection between the two boys. [[spoiler:The series later reveals Aizou to be a Shibasaki.]]
* FreudianTrio: "The Three Idiots" consisting of Kotaro, Shibaken and Yamamoto Koudai. Yamamoto is the quiet and serious bookworm (Superego), Shibaken is the attention-seeking playboy (Id), while Kotaro is the somewhat insecure idiot who tries to be both (Ego).
* FunnyBackgroundEvent:
** As mentioned in ShoutOut below, [[Manga/YowamushiPedal Makishima]] can be seen wildly biking up a hill while Koyuki goes to the barber's in "Confession Rival Declaration".
** While Midori is practicing his "good mornings" for Sena in the boys' bathroom, one can spot Koyuki coming out of a stall freaked out by Midori's repetitions.
* GISSyndrome: The backgrounds featured in the photo montage in "Sunday's Secret's" PV are very obviously shopped in compared to the characters.
* TheGlassesGottaGo: Koyuki becomes popular with girls after removing his glasses and getting a new hairdo.
* GriefSong: "Can You Hear Me" is one expressed from Haruki to [[spoiler:his dead older brother]] Chiaki. It's clear he felt lost without him growing up, and asks him if he's watching over him throughout the song.
* HairColorDissonance:
** Yuu supposedly has brown hair, but many illustrations adds some red/purple highlights, presumably to keep it from looking too similar to Natsuki and Souta's hair colours.
** Akari's hair has purple tones, although in-universe it's probably supposed to represent dark brown/black hair.
* HeIsAllGrownUp: Kotaro hits a major growth spurt in his second year of high school and grows out his hair, and throughout the year Hina has been finding herself staring at him more often.
* HoldingHands: Akari and Souta hold hands in "Tokyo Summer Session" to signify their RelationshipUpgrade.
* HotSpringsEpisode: "I Was Supposed to Hate You." has Hina and Kotarou go to one. He calls her out alone asks if there's someone she likes. She's still not over Koyuki at that point, and says yes.[[spoiler:Except she's starting to like Kotarou now too.]]
* IdolSinger: Aizou and Yuujirou are this, being a teenage unit called [=LIP×LIP=]. Sena's little sister, Mona, is also one.
* ILoveYouBecauseICantControlYou: In "Mean Encounter", Shibaken falls for Arisa because she's not swayed by his charms.
* InSeriesNickname: Most of Natsuki's friends call her Nacchan, while Souta's friends usually call him Mochita. Shibasaki is usually called Shibaken by his pals.
* {{Irony}}: The point of Akechi sitting Haruki down in detention was to have him reflect on what he's done. In "A Teacher, Detained", this instead happens to ''himself'', as he's now reflecting on what might have put a rift in between their friendship, with Haruki asking all the tough questions. Reminder, this all in ''Haruki'''s detention session.
* IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy: Koyuki likes Natsuki, and was willing to change himself to appeal to her more. But when he saw her get together with Yuu, he decided to cheer for them anyway.
* JustJokingJustification:
** The first time Natsuki confesses to Yuu, she chickens out at the last minute, saying that she was just trying to make his heart race.
** "Propose" has Haruki ask Miou to stay by his side forever, but the song then goes on to say that he was only joking at that moment in time. It also shows that they're in their high school uniforms in the image for the song, so we all know how [[ForegoneConclusion that one turned out]].
* LonelyPianoPiece: "Right Now, I'm in Love -triangle story-" stands out as one, especially the instrumental version. It's also the only PerspectiveFlip song that even gets this treatment.
* LongingLook: Everyone gives everyone else one of these. It ''is'' a romance story, after all.
* LoveChart: Like any good romance story, this one comes with [[http://honeyworks.jp/special#character one]] on the series' main webpage.
* LoveConfession: It's the name of the series, after all. So far, there have been five of them, and only two were successful-- Sota gives one to Akari in "A Solution for Jealousy" but was turned down; Ken gives one to Arisa in "Mean Encounter", but she brushes him off initially and ''may'' have worked if not for overhearing the wrong statements at the wrong time; and Hina blurts out one to Koyuki during "Right Now, I'll Fall in Love" but was mistaken. Only the [[spoiler:Enomoto -> Setoguchi]] confessions so far come out unscathed; Natsuki gives hers to Yuu in "Confession Rehearsal", he reciprocates because he's been crushing on her for a while as well, and they begin dating immediately, while [[spoiler:Kotaro finally gives his to Hina while he comforts her in "It Was Supposed to be Hate", which was the trigger for Hina to truly fall for him.]]
* LoveEpiphany:
** ''Diagnosis: Lovesickness'' is all about Natsuki coming to realize that she's in love with her good friend Yuu.
** Hina realizes she's in love with Koyuki after he comes over to check on her in the hallway, coupled with herself piecing together why she's feeling the way she feels inside. She has another one in "It Was Supposed to be Hate" when she finds herself furiously blushing at [[spoiler:Kotaro's confession]].
** ''The Day When I Knew Love'' has it right in the title for Akari, realizing that she'd fallen for Souta after their get-together on Christmas Eve.
** Ken has his when he sees Arisa [[WhenSheSmiles smile]] after offering his textbook in a totally unplanned, uncool, and genuine moment.
* LoveTriangle: Three of them, involving one of the same people even:
** Natsuki falls in love with Yuu, but Koyuki is in love with her as well. Finally settles itself out when Natsuki rejects Koyuki's feelings and confesses to Yuu, who reciprocates. It gets expanded upon in the first novel, where Koyuki plays a more aggressive role in winning over Natsuki and butts heads with Yuu.
** Hina is in love with Koyuki, but her childhood friend Kotaro is in love with her as well. [[spoiler: "Senpai." reveals that even after she (sort of) confesses to him in "Right Now, I'll Fall in Love", she keeps her feelings to herself and [[DidNotGetTheGuy does not get with Koyuki]]. Instead, "It Was Supposed to be Hate." sets up Kotaro and Hina together, as she starts to feel less than friendly feelings for the boy the year after Koyuki graduates.]]
** "Romeo" sets up one with Yuujirou and Aizou as the two competitors for the third's heart. The comic and arc make it so that Hiyori's set up to be the third angle, and the song proper has a fictional one between two princes of opposing kingdoms and a princess (played by Sena) as part of their music video's plot.
* MeaningfulEcho:
** "Goodbye, Our Mutual Unrequited Love" has Haruki and Miou part ways by finally holding hands and letting them drift apart. [[spoiler:The first thing Haruki does when he runs into Miou again in "Ippun Ichibyou Kimi to Boku no" is hold out his hand for them to join again.]]
** In the beginning of the music video for "Senpai.", Hina is shown in an ImagineSpot confessing to Koyuki by whispering in his ear. [[spoiler:Kotaro does the same thing in the real world to Hina when he finally gives his confession in "It Was Supposed to be Hate."]]
* MeetCute: The first time Koyuki meets Hina, he trips and spills all of his trash during Cleaning Day, all over the area where Hina was tidying up. She gets angry at him, [[AccidentalPervert he sees her panda panties]], and she chases him all over the building.
* MoodWhiplash: "Senpai." starts out as a cute story about Hina and her crush on Koyuki throughout his high school years and her hopes for when they become a couple. Midway, it then turns into a bittersweet story about [[spoiler:how she couldn't tell him how she truly felt before he graduated, how she loved him all the way through the day he left, and how she wished that they could have spent more time together.]] You can tell that they were going for this since they only play the first verse in ''The Moment You Fall in Love.''
* NoLovesIntersect: All of the third years have their own designated pairing (with one exception[[spoiler: for a while, at least]]), and the songs make sure to keep them that way with minimal interference. The first years have a little more trouble given Kotarou and Hina's situation, but even there the pairings are pretty definite. Generally averted in the rest of the series, as the expanded plots complicate their romances.
* NotSoDifferent: At first glance, the relationship between Miou and Haruki seems like a classic example of OppositesAttract (she's a quiet ShrinkingViolet, he's hot-headed and outspoken), but their profiles describe both of them as kind-hearted and sensitive individuals who can't be honest with their feelings for each other, showing that the two are actually quite similar.
* ObliviousToLove:
** The official character profile states that Akari is clueless about matters of romance, to the frustration of Souta, who has a crush on her.
** Koyuki seems to be this to some extent, seeing that in "Right Now, I'll Fall in Love" he hears Hina's "I Like You" and misinterprets it as her comforting him after he'd just been rejected by Natsuki. Likewise, Natsuki is completely unaware that Koyuki's in love with her.
* OfficialCouple: After the events of "Confession Rehearsal", Yuu and Natsuki officially hooked up with each other. After "Sunday's Secret", Sena and Midori join in the ranks of coupling.
* PerspectiveFlip: Several songs in the series have -another story- versions, which retell the events of those particular songs from another character's point-of-view. Usually, the response singer is the main singer's love interest, which makes "Right Now, I'll Fall in Love" a sort of ForegoneConclusion for Hina's endgame since it's not Koyuki, but ''Kotarou'' who gets the response song.
* PrinceCharming: Aizou and Yuujirou have the aesthetic in "Romeo" and "Nonfantasy", acting as the prince to Sena's princess and Hiyori/the actual PV heroine's Lady. However, the only boy that Sena even considers a prince is the rough, common Midori.
* ProductionThrowback: Elements from [=HoneyWorks=]' other creations often make their way to this series' videos.
** At one point, the song "Rockbell" was used as a BGM in the vomic.
** Amaterasu from "The Currently Slightly-Rumored God" briefly appears in "Confession Rival Declaration" to reject Koyuki's prayer for success in his pursuit of love, while her acquaintances in Heaven cheer Koyuki on in his pursuit.
** Related to the above, Ameterasu's LoveInterest, Joe from "Yoshino, Running Away From Home" was included as one of the prop students in "A Teacher, Detained".
** Miou sketches a picture of the main cast of "Dawn Moonlit Night's" PV in "Goodbye, Our Mutual Unrequited Love".
** In "Right Now, I'll Fall in Love", The trio from "The World is Falling in Love" and "Love Chord" appear in the background while Hina's running in the hallway.
** The couple from "Ai no Scenario" and the two friends from "A Promise That Doesn't Need Words" show up on the train in "The Day When I Called Your Name". The short haired girl from "The World is Falling in Love"/"Love Chord" sits next to Souta on his commute.
* QuestioningTitle: ''Boku ja Dame Desu Ka?''
* RecursiveFiction:
** In ''I've Always Liked You'', Natsuki goes out to a Honey Works concert, where the band is performing "Diagnosis: Love Sickness" to the crowd in the snippet we see. You know, the song that shows how Natsuki herself realizes that she'd fallen in love with Yuu?
** Koyuki is seen reading the "Confession Rehearsal" light novel (the one that shows ''the girl he likes loves someone else'') in both "Confession Rival Declaration" and "Understand This Youth".
* RedStringOfFate:
** One version of the stills from "Ima Suki ni Naru." shows Hina and Kotarou connected by one; Hina has it wrapped around her waist, while it squeezes and binds Kotarou's heart.
** The song "The ''Red Thread'' on Flowers" evokes the motif.
** Hiyori, Yujiro, and Aizo are connected through this in "Nonfantasy". Hiyori holds both their strings in her grasp.
* RelationshipUpgrade:
** After rejecting Sota's confession in the "Solution for Jealousy" vomic, Akari finally reciprocates his feelings in "Tokyo Summer Session".
** In "Tokyo Winter Session", Miou and Haruki finally managed to close he gap between each other and properly join hands.
** Sena and Midori upgrade to "Secret Lovers" in "Sunday's Secret".
** "Saucy Honey" finally gets Ken and Arisa together.
* RememberTheNewGuy: Ogino shows up in "Tokyo Winter Session" in a big romantic scene, where she finds Koyuki and tearfully embraces him. Anybody who hadn't been following the novels, and only accessed the [=PVS=] or anime, wouldn't know why she would have such emphasis, given that in the 29 videos beforehand she's never once shown up.
* RomanticFalseLead: Even though most media stressed the importance of Hina's crush on Koyuki, and even though they were often found side by side when they were first introduced, it quickly becomes apparent that Hina's endgame is Kotarou. He's the one that gets the response song to "Right Now, I'll Fall in Love" and has the most emotional development concerning his feelings for Hina, while Koyuki never seems to notice Hina's crush and didn't have a song of his own to describe how their relationship was. In the end, though Hina still has a place for Koyuki in her heart, [[spoiler:she [[SecondLove slowly starts developing feelings]] for Kotaro after Koyuki leaves]].
* RotatingArcs: For the most part, all of the third years' songs get precedence, then the first years get focus, and it takes a bit of time before they focus on the first years again. After adding Hiyori and [=LIP×LIP=], that's one more group to cycle through.
* SecretRelationship: What started out with Midori and Sena hanging out in secret ends up with them dating in secret as well, by the time "Sunday's Secret" rolls around.
* SequelHook: "Confession Rival Declaration" ends with Koyuki learning that Natsuki loves someone else, and decides not to give up just yet. Just as the video's about to end, we see Hina with a letter waiting for someone, hinting at the events of "Right Now, I'm in Love." The scene is repeated in ''I've Always Liked You'', but Koyuki's more or less resigned to the fact that he had no chance.
* SempaiKohai: Hina and Koyuki's relationship in a nutshell. She even gets a song talking about it called "Senpai."
* SequelSong: "The Day When I Call Your Name" and "The Day When I Knew Love" are this to "A Solution for Jealousy", "Saucy Honey" for "Assertion of the Heart" and "Mean Encounter", "Sunday's Secret" is this for "Friday's Good Morning", and "Thank You for Choosing Me." for "I Was Supposed to Hate You". From the looks of it, "Tokyo Winter Session" is one to "Tokyo Summer Session".
* ShipperOnDeck: Arisa immediately recognizes that Kotarou has a crush on Hina, and in the vomic tries to put some distance between Hina and Koyuki in order to have her talk to Kotaro more. [[spoiler:When it looks like Hina is falling for Kotaro, she's equally as supportive.]] It seems that Natsuki, Shibaken and Yamamoto have recognized his crush on Hina as well.
* ShipSinking: After years of buildup, [[spoiler:Hina/Koyuki]] goes down in "Senpai." once it reveals that [[spoiler:Koyuki graduates without ever learning of Hina's crush on him.]]
* {{Shoujo}}: And how! The series is very clearly shoujo inspired, and even has the art style to match.
* ShoutOut: Characters from other Manga/Anime occasionally shows up in the videos as background characters:
** "Confession Rival Declaration" features Makishima and Onoda from ''Manga/YowamushiPedal'' and some characters from ''Anime/{{Free}}''.
** ''Manga/AttackOnTitan'''s Eren and Levi appears in "Right Now, I'll Fall in Love".
** One can spot [[Anime/KillLaKill Mako Mankanshoku]] sleeping in the corner of the classroom in "A Teacher, Detained".
* SoloDuet: "A Teacher, Detained" serves as one, since in both the Vocaloid and human version one singer is doing the parts of both Haruki and Akechi (V Flower and Creator/HikaruMidorikawa, respectively).
* [[StandAloneEpisode Standalone Song]]: It's a long series, so some of the songs apply here:
** "A Teacher, Detained" largely serves as this, since the PV series doesn't go in-depth about the relationship between Haruki, Saku, and [[spoiler:Chiaki]] as the rest of the franchise does, and wraps up their drama relatively neatly in one go.
** The entire Midori/Sena arc (Friday's Good Morning, Sunday's Secret) can be divorced from the rest of the videos without much problem, given that their problems don't intersect with the rest of 3-2 or 1-1's problems.
** "I Want to Become Cute" is purely a song about Sena's thoughts and feelings concerning her desire to be pretty and seen, and only tangentially references the other characters.
** "My Idol Declaration" takes this a step further; since it's about an entirely different character (Mona), and her sister Sena only appears in cameos and doesn't interact with Mona at all, the former girl's story can be considered separate.
** "Nonfantasy" can just be taken as the story of a girl dreaming about a music video, since that's all it really was.
** Likewise, "Little Lion" can easily be seen as another one of LIP×LIP's in-universe music videos, as the story is mostly a MagicRealism tale about a cat with the idols playing second fiddle.
** "Mister Darling" is primarily about the Narumis' parents, and even out of context can be taken as a song about a girl wants to keep the spark in her relationship as she gets older.
* StockShoujoBullyingTactics: Arisa first meets a girl in middle school when she was being bullied by the girls in her class, and she had to deal with them saying things behind her back and writing nasty insults on her desk. After Arisa stood up for the girl and told her that things shouldn't go on like that, the girl was spared, but [[NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished Arisa was subjected to the same treatment instead.]]
* SuspiciouslySpecificDenial: Right when asked, Koyuki denies accidentally peeping at Hina's panties, and then adding that he didn't see any ''panda'' panties either.
* ThreesomeSubtext: Littered all over the place with Hiyori and the [=LIP×LIP=] boys. She has a subtle nod to it in eating both boys' pocky flavors instead of choosing just one, and she dreams of being the girl in their "Nonfantasy" video, where they both pursue her and even ''marry'' her together. And the kiss at the end of the video looks like they're about to kiss ''each other'' as much as it looks like they're going to kiss Hiyori.
* TranslatedCoverVersion: [=HoneyWorks=] also put out an official English version of "Our Minute and a Second" sung by Kaneïra, which resides on their Youtube account. While somewhat hard to hear, is [[SurprisinglyGoodEnglish still grammatically correct]].
* TearsOfJoy:
** [[spoiler: Miou cries these after encountering Haruki for the first time in years in "Ippun Ichibyou Kimi to Boku no".]]
** When [[spoiler:Ogino]] reunites with and embraces Koyuki in "Tokyo Winter Session", she's tearing up in happiness and relief.
* {{Tsundere}}:
** Hina with Kotaro. At first, she actually did hate how straightforward he was with her and was often stubborn with him, but over time, and especially during their second year of high school, she starts to admire those traits instead and masks it under indifference and ''more'' stubbornness.
** Arisa with Ken as well. She acts aloof with him whenever he tries to flirt with her, but whenever he acts genuine or when he's being kind, she likes him but keeps it to herself. When she thinks Ken is trying to flirt again, she's genuinely heartbroken.
* TwiceShy: Hanamaka Midori and Narumi Sena are strangers who meet each other on the train car on their way to school everyday. They both fancy each other, but neither could work up the courage to say "good morning" to one another, despite spending much of their free time practising their greeting. By "Sunday's Secret" though, they've made more than enough process with it-- Sena at least asks to sit next to Midori on the commute to school and they exchange phone numbers, and then over the passage of time escalates to secretly dating.
* TwoTeacherSchool: The only form of faculty we get to see consistently in the series is Saku, while the rest of the teachers are mentioned but never seen. [=HoneyWorks=]' "Nostalgic Rainfall", while not ''officially'' a part of the series, does show off two more teachers at Sakuragaoka (Hiro Ogino and the female teacher).
* UnrequitedLoveLastsForever: On Haruki and Mio's parts, they certainly ''believe'' this trope is the case since they never confess to each other [[spoiler:before Haruki moves to America]], and they keep their crushes going strong for 6 years before [[spoiler:Haruki]] returns. In both of their cases they never mention dating or falling in love with anyone else while the time passed.
* UptownGirl: Sena is a beautiful teen model, falling in love with pseudo-tough normal boy Midori. Gender-inverted with the second real LoveTriangle: [[CountryMouse Hiyori]] is a country bumpkin who moved to Tokyo, while her love interests Yuujirou and Aizou are city boys and {{Teen Idol}}s.
* {{UST}}: Even though they're so close that almost everyone else assumes they're already going out together, both Haruki and Miou thinks their love for each other is unrequited. In the vomic, they asked each other if they have someone they like, and both answered yes, resulting in a misunderstanding where both thinks the other likes someone else.
* YouGottaHaveBlueHair: Most of the characters have normal hair colors, but a few stand out as particularly different from the rest. This list includes Koyuki (stark white), Hina (pink), Akari (purple), Midori (green), Yuujirou (blue), and Ryou (indigo).
! Tropes applying to the various adaptations:
* AdaptationExpansion: While the main body of work and content that comes out first is the songs, all other media try to explain what goes on to give comprehension to the videos.
** ''I've Always Liked You''/''Confession Rehearsal'' has the Koyuki subplot brought out more into the open, with Koyuki's advances on Natsuki causing more drama for the lead couple before her ultimate confession. The plot also takes place over a few months of school, as opposed to the vomic which goes over the time frame in a few days.
** ''The Moment You Fall in Love.''/''Right Now, I'll Fall in Love.'' shows how Kotaro's group, Hina, and Arisa came together, and draws out the triangle drama between the three protagonists.
* AdaptedOut: The other half of "A Solution for Jealousy", namely, the plot about Souta and Akari overhearing Haruki's practice confession, is left out of the first movie.
* BaitAndSwitch: When Natsuki practices confessing to Yuu with Haruki, Akari is shown watching and getting extremely upset about it, making Souta believe that she had a crush on Haruki. As it turns out, she doesn't-- she only got upset because it felt like Haruki was ''betraying Mio'', and she very much wants the two of them to get together.
* BathtubScene: And hoo boy, we get all ''six'' of the main characters in the "Confession Rehearsal" vomic, with variations. The girls get standard bathtubs, Haruki gets a ShowerScene from the waist up, Yuu gets a FuroScene with his hair wet and slicked back (with an extra shower scene in the animation), and [[TheLastOfTheseIsNotLikeTheOthers Souta is submerged to his nose]].
* BookEnds: The first movie begins with the core six taking a photo together in the opening sequence. We see in the credits that they all took another one with their friends as they were about to graduate.
* BroadStrokes: The adaptations hae a basic outline that doesn't change much, but it's the extra elaboration that changes all the time.
* CallForward: The novel has Natsuki confess to Yuu early because "she'd seen in shoujo manga that a potential couple would miss their chance if they waited around too long". That's more or less what happens to Haruki and Miou, since they kept beating around the bush.
* CareerVersusMan: Haruki poses the question to Akari in the second light novel, asking if she would be willing to put aside her passion for art in exchange for getting with the person she loves. Akari at first says drawing is more important, but as she begins to fall for Souta, she settles on wanting a balance; drawing is a part of her already, so wanting love isn't out of the question either. Haruki, meanwhile, [[spoiler:puts his passion for directing over coming together with Miou...for a while at least]].
* ChildhoodFriends: According to the novels, Yuu, Natsuki, their younger siblings, Mochita and Haruki have all known each other since around elementary school.
* CockFight: Koyuki's been trying to instigate a fight for Natsuki on even ground, and they do get into a shouting match about who's more fit for her after the pseudo-date. Yuu doesn't want anything to do with it though.
* CreatorCameo: Fellow collaborative singer and utaite sana appears as the lead singer for [=HoneyWorks=] in the first movie.
* CryIntoChest: In the vomic, Miou runs straight into Akari's arms when she hears from Haruki that he likes someone. Little did she know that the person he was talking about was ''her''.
* DoItYourselfThemeTune:
** Two of the vomics open up with a cover version of the topic song sung by the voice actor of that particular protagonist (Natsuki for "Confession Rehearsal", Souta for "A Solution for Jealousy"). The ending songs are either sung by the opening singer, by the person who gives the -another story- version of the song, or by the person who sings their image song[[note]]this is the case for the "Romeo" vomic[[/note]]. The "Right Now, I'll Fall in Love." vomic is the exception, as sana sings the cover version of the opening and the ending[[note]]Right Now, I'm in Love and Triangle Jealousy[[/note]] of that installment.
** "Our Minute and A Second" is sung by Sphere, of which two of the members consist of Creator/HarukaTomatsu (Natsuki), and Creator/AkiToyosaki (Miou).
** Two of [=TrySail=]'s members, Creator/MomoAsakura and Creator/SoraAmamiya, play Hina and Sena respectively in the series. [=TrySail=] provides the opening song "Senpai." for the second movie.
** For ''Our Love Has Always Been 10 Centimeters Apart.'', [=LIP×LIP=] performs the OP "Nonfantasy", and the six third year leads perform the ED "Tokyo Winter Session".
* EstablishingCharacterMoment:
** The opening sequence set to "Blooming Into the Color of Love" does this for the three main couples and Koyuki.
** Yuujirou and Aizou show their true colors immediately after they have their first proper scene in the "Romeo" vomic. In the PV, they show that they're not at all fond of each other behind the curtains, but the vomic shows that Yuujirou gets into trouble, can put on a more friendly face when talking to women, but still gets touchy and rude when someone tries to figure out what's wrong with him; while Aizou tries to pick a fight with Yuujirou under his breath after his friendlier introduction and immediately switches to coarse language.
* TheForeignSubtitle: Inverted for all three animated adaptations; their English subtitles are omitted from the English translated titles. Gets into YouAreTheTranslatedForeignWord, given that these titles basically say the same thing as their Japanese versions.
** ''Zutto Mae Kara Suki Deshita.: I've Liked You for a Long Time.'' turns into ''I've Always Liked You.''
** ''Suki ni Naru Sono Shunkan wo.: I'll Wait Until the Moment That You Love Me.'' turns into ''The Moment You Fall in Love''.
** ''Itsu Datte Bokura no Koi wa 10 Centi Datta.: We Have Always Been 10 Centimeters Apart.'' turns into ''Our Love Has Always Been 10 Centimeters Apart.''
* {{Foreshadowing}}: Akechi's little speech about spending your youth in regret to Souta makes a lot of sense considering that [[spoiler:he watched his best friend die young and distanced himself from Haruki because of it]]. In the digital comic, they play a piano version of "Detained Teacher" over the scene, the very same song that briefly overviews that plot point.
* FramingDevice: The events of the light novels are framed as the main cast looking back on their high school years in the time space before [[spoiler:Yu and Natsuki]]'s wedding.
* FreudianSlip: While Koyuki is reassuring Natsuki and giving her advice on how to patch things up with Yuu, he almost lets it slip that he loves her before [[AbortedDeclarationOfLove verbally backspacing]] and correcting it to mere support.
* GagDub: The confession scene in the "Confession Rehearsal" vomic was intentionally made for this; they posted the sequence on their Niconico in the hopes that the internet would dub over it any way they like (and they did). As an example, there's one done by Gom, who plays both Natsuki and Yuu, and gives the former a chipmunk's squeaky voice and the latter a creepy vibe.
* HaveYouToldAnyoneElse: As Hiyori was the only one besides his manager to see Yujiro at the police station, Yujiro angrily warns the girl not to say a word about the scene lest there be consequences. [[SlaveToPR For him, mostly,]] though he doesn't say that out loud.
* HighSchoolSweethearts: [[spoiler:By the TimeSkip, Yu and Natsuki are engaged to be married, and host their wedding around the time Haruki finally returns.]]
* IHaveThisFriend: When trying to give advice to Hina about telling her crush how she feels, Miou relates a story about how her "friend" liked a boy for a long time but put a hold on telling him so because of her own cowardice.
* ImaginaryLoveTriangle: A case where there are ''two'' of these. Souta mistook Akari's crying over the [[spoiler:Haruki/Natsuki practice confession]] as Akari having feelings for the former, while he himself is in love with her. Meanwhile, Yuu is in the same boat with Natsuki.
* InsertSong: Before "Sunday's Secret" appeared with its full PV, it started as an insert song in the movie series. "Destiny" also appears as an insert, taking "Diagnosis: Lovesickness's" role as the LoveEpiphany sequence for Natsuki.
* {{Leitmotif}}: Generally, when a character appears in the vomics or in the animated adaptations, their ImageSong will be playing in the background, either as a vanilla instrumental track or as a different arrangement.
* LikeAnOldMarriedCouple: There isn't a day that goes by without Kotarou and Hina bickering with each other. Their closeness and childhood friends and neighbors, as well as the former's long-held crush on the latter, only adds to the trope.
* MiniSeries: ''Our Love Has Always Been 10 cm Apart'', which was a 6-episode televised anime.
* MistakenForRomance: Causes problems in ''three'' different volumes of the light novel. Haruki and Natsuki generally act pretty close since they're childhood friends, but because she's practicing for her real confession to Yuu and simply never told the latter boy who it was for, Yuu starts to believe that ''Haruki'' was the one she liked. Their closeness also causes a ThirdActMisunderstanding in ''A Solution for Jealousy'' and ''First Love's Picture Book'', given that [[spoiler:Haruki does his own practice confession with Natsuki]] and Akari and Souta come in at ''just'' the wrong time to hear it. Now Akari becomes upset because she thinks Haruki doesn't like Miou, and Miou's upset because she thinks her crush doesn't like her back.
** This relationship faux pas also causes Souta to believe that Akari has a crush on Haruki as well, given her upset reaction at seeing him "confess" to Natsuki.
* MusicalNod: The BGM for all of the voiced adaptations uses snippets from other [=HoneyWorks=] songs, not just the {{Image Song}}s from this series. In particular, one can hear "Rockbell" or "Raspberry Monster" in a couple of scenes.
* NotADate: Koyuki invites Natsuki to hang out with him to enjoy their common interests in the summertime (novels have it be a book signing, movie has a [=HoneyWorks=] concert instead), which Natsuki gladly agrees to. Almost everyone she tells about it think she's going on a date with him, but she doesn't take it as such. Well, Koyuki ''did'' plan on telling the girl how he felt about her, so he planned on giving her a date in all but actual name.
* {{Novelization}}: Each ''Confession Rehearsal'' book covers a major song in the franchise, and elaborates on how the events happened in the core six's third year of high school. The movies have their own book adaptations as well.
* OutOfContextEavesdropping: While walking through school, Akari and Souta overhear Natsuki confessing to Haruki, making the former run off in shock. At this point we already know that the two don't have feelings for one another, but the full scene shows that Natsuki was just using Haruki as a practice confession for her real confession to Yuu.
* PassiveAggressiveCombat: While attempting to compete with Yuu for Natsuki, Koyuki includes some subtle verbal attacks in order to come out on top.
* PragmaticAdaptation: The whole point of all the extended media is to re-contextualize everything into the same year, and the animated versions move the events of the music videos around a lot, placing certain videos along different moments in the timeline and trying to combine them into a coherent narrative.[[note]]"Embarrassment Hiding Adolescence's" finale happened in the middle of "Right Now, I'll fall in Love" instead of right at the end, for example, and Ken meets Arisa much later than he does in "Mean Encounter". "Confession Rehearsal" also took place over two days in the song and comic as opposed to the whole year in everything else.[[/note]]
* ProductPlacement:
** ''I've Always Liked You's'' animation has Natsuki and Hina play ''VideoGame/LittleBigPlanet 3'' together. The [=PS3=] is also shown without problems.
** This goes double for the [=PVs=], but lots of real life [=HoneyWorks=] merchandise appears throughout the series. One scene even has a "[=CHiCO=] with [=HoneyWorks=]" CD placed in the foreground.
** The second movie has the Setoguchi and Enomoto siblings go see ''Anime/TheAnthemOfTheHeart'' together.
* TitleDrop: The names given to certain arcs when adapting them to other formats besides song (i.e "I've Always Liked You", "Am I Not Good Enough?") are based off of something that one of the characters actually said during the arc.
* {{Retcon}}: Both of the "Confession Rehearsal" comics (the vomic and ''Volume Zero'') set the events of that song during the core six's second year of school, going by their class label being 2-3 in one scene. Everything released afterwards rescinds that and places most of the events of the stories in their third year of school, going by Koyuki's ImportantHaircut, Hina and Kotaro being upgraded to first year high schoolers, and the "A Solution for Jealousy" vomic having Natsuki admit she hasn't told Yuu her feelings by that point.
* RunningAwayToCry: Hina curses her own weakness for not being honest with herself about Koyuki, and after encountering him post-haircut, she runs off to cry.
* SequelHook: The "Confession Rehearsal" comic ends with Souta and Akari peeping in on Haruki confessing to Natsuki, unbeknownst to their respective love interests. The events of this confession would be covered later in the second vomic, the one for "A Solution for Jealousy".
* SocialCircleFiller: During the "The Moment You Fall in Love" arc, Hina's given a girl friend to talk to named Kako Kogane. We don't see her in the music videos, so it's likely she was crafted whole cloth to prevent Hina from interacting solely with the rest of the main cast. She has more of a speaking role in the light novels, but in the second movie she barely speaks at all.
* TheStinger:
** The epilogue of the Confession Rehearsal arc has Natsuki wake up Yuu for school and try to coax an "I love you" out of him, given that she was the only one that fully admitted her feelings the whole story. Yuu sneaks one out when she doesn't expect it.
** The second movie closes out on a DoubleDate between Yuu/Natsuki and Kotaro/Hina, and Hina admitting to Kotaro that she knows he loves her, congratulating him on his soccer position. [[spoiler:This is more or less where their more romantic interactions begin.]]
* TimePassesMontage: ''I've always Liked You'' adds in a sequence of practice confessions between Yuu and Natsuki over time, while everyone else is trying to sort out their various feelings. The second movie does this with Hina and Kotaro studying for high school exams.
* WallPinOfLove: Natsuki accidentally gets Souta and Akari into a situation like this as she whizzes by them in a hurry. Souta loses his balance and traps Akari, the girl he likes and would ''want'' to kabedon at one point, to the wall. Both parties are confused and embarrassed.
* WeddingDay: [[spoiler:Yu and Natsuki's in the novel.]]
* WillTheyOrWontThey: Haruki and Miou for the entire series. They obviously love each other a lot, but their insecurities keep them from confessing to each other. [[spoiler: In "Ippun Ichibyou Kimi to Boku no", Haruki comes back from America and encounters Miou again as grownups. He says that he'll be able to stay in Japan over the summer, leaving them wiggle room to finally confess their feelings to one another, but their relationship from the encounter on is left up in the open. "Re:First Love's Picture Book" reveals that yes, TheyDo eventually.]]

! Tropes exclusive to the ''Idol Series'':
* CockFight: "Romeo" has the Princes of the West and East duel each other and try to one up each other to have the hand of the beautiful Princess.
* CoveredUp: "Rodeo" was originally the coupling track of [=CHiCO with HoneyWorks=]' ''Cherry Blossoms Dance at Dawn Today'' single, but it's far better known by its LIP×LIP cover. [[invoked]]
* GiveGeeksAChance: "Choco Kano"'s PV features a shy, Ultraman loving megane (played by both of them) as the male lead, pining for his crush from afar. Apparently the girl liked him too, and gives him her reciprocal chocolate to boot.
* {{Outlaw}}: In "Rodeo", the duo portray themselves as characters who drive around the desert beating up baddies, saving damsels, and making off with mountains of money. They even have their own WantedPoster.
* ShowWithinAShow: It appears that most of the video for "Romeo" was just a music video that [=LIP×LIP=] did with Sena, seeing that Shibaken is watching it on a trip to the store.
* TrueLovesKiss: Apparently, "Nonfantasy's" heroine falls into a deep slumber during the bridge, which Yujiro and Aizo's characters wake her up from together with a confession.

! Tropes exclusive to LIP×LIP [=PVs=] and productions: