Aito Yuuki is a newcomer comic writer who has just started his own work. However, he is still new to conveying character expressions, so he frequently asks his long-suffering assistant, Ashisu Sahoto, to volunteer for this purpose, even as they frequently try to make their deadlines and keep their manga afloat. Except Aito has to learn to tone down his incredible perversions, forcing Ashisu and Otosuna Mihari, the editor of their manga, to try and keep his mind on the task.
Much Hilarity Ensues.
The Comic Artist and his Assistants (Mangaka-san to Assistant-san to) is a gag manga written and illustrated by Hiroyuki, which was serialized in Square Enix's Young Gangan magazine from 2008 to 2012 and compiled into 10 volumes. The manga has an an anime adaptation directed by Takeshi Furuta and produced by Zexcs for the spring 2014 anime season and can be viewed on Crunchyroll here
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The manga itself has received a 2013 sequel, which was sadly cancelled due to terrible sales.
Compare Hiroyuki's previous work Doujin Work, which portrays the lives of self-published manga artists.
The Comic Artist and his Assistants provides examples of the following tropes:
- Accidental Pervert: In Chapter 6, the girls went on a bath in Aito's bathroom and before than Otosuna beat Aito unconscious for talking about her breast. When Aito regained conscious he tried to go the bathroom to cool down his cranial bumps, but the girls were still in the bath...
- A-Cup Angst:
- Both Ashisu and Otosuna are highly concerned about it during the shower scene with Rinna. Otosuna moreso than Ashisu. It doesn't help that she is easily the flattest of the three. Also doesn't help that Aito unintentionally reminds her from time to time.
- In episode 11, Aito is Genre Savvy enough to realize Mihari's breasts grew 2 millimeters simply by looking at her. He then doesn't like the "new" Mihari that's in front of him, though she tells him she's probably only going to ever be an A-cup anyway. He then cheers because of that, and she cheers because her breasts grew slightly.
- A Day in the Limelight: Episode 9 focuses on Mihari during her early stint as Aito's editor, and why she cut her hair short as a result after a high school friend asks her about having long hair in high school.
- Aren't You Going to Ravish Me?: Mihari gets into a couple of these situations, such as in episode 7 when she spends a night in his place. Something starts to lick her, and she assumes it's Aito, only to find out it's his pet cat Branya licking her. And in episode 9, when he enters his bathroom while she's changing in it, only for him to then head for the laundry basket to pull out a pair of panties he bought before, and completely ignores her until she yells at him about it.
- Armor-Piercing Question: Mild example. Ashisu denies that she gets along with Aito. Editor-in-Chief Minano asks why she continues to be Aito's assistant if she didn't get along with him, considering that Aito has other assistants and that there are other mangakas that she can work for. Ashisu has no answer.
- Ascended Fanboy: Aito is likely an otaku before taking the manga profession.
- Author Appeal: In-Universe. Aito pretty much draws Hajiratte Cafe Latte to satisfy his Panty Shot fetish, often to other people's ire.
- Bad Liar: Aito will often, if not always, lie with a Suspiciously Specific Denial. In which it will immediately get shot down.
- Beach Episode: Episode 6 of the anime is essentially this, going to a hot spring and spending the first half at the beach, then a mixed bath, and finally in the hotel room in yukatas.
- Beady-Eyed Loser: Meisei
- Beleaguered Assistant: Ashisu, who has to deal with Aito's pervertedness but is usually good-natured about it, if firm.
- Blank White Eyes: Sena displays some in episode 11 after she gets upset that the cats won't let her bathe them.
- Brick Joke: The whole "No girl would show their panties to a guy they like" joke shows up again in the sequel.
- Broken Pedestal: Zig-zagged with Ashisu and Aito. A flashback to their first meeting showed that Ashisu highly respected Aito's skill as a mangaka, but being exposed to his bad habits slowly eroded the respect she originally had for him. Despite that, she still admits that she likes his manga and there are times throughout the series when he does feats that do end up impressing her. At the end of the manga it's safe to say that Aito's pedestal is on the way to being rebuilt.
- Bunny-Ears Lawyer:
- To an extent. Aito may be an absolute pervert, but Ashisu and Otosuna both begrudgingly admit they like his manga, although it is frequently on the lower half of the rankings. Then again, many people who have appeared have admitted that they like it, and it also has a large and dedicated fan-base despite its ranking; Aito seems to be an Almighty Janitor when it comes to manga. The series itself points out in one chapter that Aito being in the lower half of the rankings is still a pretty decent accomplishment. For all the criticism Ashisu gives him about how he should write his manga, when she submits her own, it doesn't even make the runner up list. It's also been shown that Aito is actually brilliant when he has the right motivation, managing to create a second manga with consistently high popularity (burning himself out in the process) when he thought that maintaining his popularity would allow him to create his own harem.
- Super-Assistant Sena could also count as one, as she works at exorbitant rates and only then if she's in the mood. But she is really good at drawing at insane speeds.
- Meisei chases away any and all assistants he gets, leaving himself to handle everything, including extra projects, alone. Despite this his quality has apparently never slipped, he doesn't request extensions to his deadlines, and consistently holds the number two rank in popularity.
- Apparently GonGon Comics actively hires people like this, the Chief Editor claiming they need interesting people to make an interesting magazine.
- Butt-Monkey: Aito, do you really need to ask any more?
- Can't Hold His Liquor: Sena gets drunk off some 1% alcohol in some chocolates she bought in episode 11. Even Aito knows better than to try anything perverted with her or even peek at her while she's bathing with some cats during this time.
- Captain Ersatz:
- Aito's manga is part of a whole sub-genre of panty fanservice manga, but it bears the most resemblance to Strawberry 100% (a scene Aito's drawing of a boy asking the girl he likes to lift her skirt and show him her panties is drawn almost identically to a similar scene in the other manga). Whether this is a Shout-Out or a Take That! isn't quite clear.
- The magazine his manga serializes, GonGon Comics, is a clear stand-in for Young GanGan, the magazine this manga serializes.
- Characterization Marches On:
- In her first appearances, Rinna was actually put off by how much of a pervert Aito was and her only flaw was that she was a little oblivious and gullible. Come later appearances in the series and her obliviousness to social norms and perversion rivals that of Aito's.
- Alternatively, one could interpret her abrupt character change as her taking Aito's (terrible) advice to heart — being a fan of his, Rinna once asked him how she could write mangas like he does and in response he told her "by being a pervert".
- Chivalrous Pervert: Aito's probably the biggest pervert you'll ever know/read about(even to the point of making a manga based on his perversion) but even he knows when to draw the line.
- The best example is chapter 56, when Minano knows Aito hasn't recognized her yet and only sees her as a child. She actually suggested Aito will try to molest her. Aito spent several pages clarifying despite how perverted he is, doing a little girl is plainly
squick. - In episode 11, while a drunk Sena visits him, she starts stripping down to give the cats Aito was watching for some neighbors a bath. He calls Branya to provide a convenient censor as she strips. He also doesn't peek at her while she's attempting to bathe them.
- The best example is chapter 56, when Minano knows Aito hasn't recognized her yet and only sees her as a child. She actually suggested Aito will try to molest her. Aito spent several pages clarifying despite how perverted he is, doing a little girl is plainly
- Clingy Jealous Girl: Sena is becoming one towards Aito in the second series.
- Comically Missing the Point:
- Often, as Aito usually sees things through the lens of his Panty Shot fetish.
- In Panty Wars, Ashisu told him instead of worrying over what kind of panty shot he should draw, he should not draw it (i.e. tone down the fanservice). Aito sees that as giving the reader the imagination of the panty shot.
- Doubled up in A New Assistant Arrives. Mihari assigns Rinna, who has little or no art skills, as Aito's assistant. Aito furiously called Mahari to ask why is she sending him The Load. Turns out he forgot he had told Mihari he is fine with anyone as long as she'd hot—and Rinna sure is hot.
- Covert Pervert: What the cast speculates about Ashisu though she vehemently denies this is the case. However considering her sadistic tendencies in a few chapters they may be on to something.
- Cringe Comedy: If the girls were not so forgiving and Aito isn't such a stupid but well-meaning puppy dog of a Manchild, nine out of ten of his antics would have gotten him thrown in jail in a heartbeat.
- Cute Kitten: Branya, at least seen In-Universe as such.
- Cuteness Proximity:
- Ashisu tends to find weird things cute if they're Super-Deformed.
- Sena as well, except she tends to hide it. Though when she sees the cats Aito is watching for some neighbors in episode 11, she immediately jumps towards them.
- Cut Short: The manga got a sequel which was cancelled almost immediately, right as it was building up to Sena's confession.
- D-Cup Distress: Jun hates her boobs (Aito, who has the abilities of estimating cup sizes on sight, estimated her to be G-cup, approximate to the E in the US) because of Male Gaze—especially from the likes of Aito. A strange discussion therefore ensues in Chapter 3 of the sequel, when Sena first met her.
- Deadpan Snarker: Ashisu is often this in her thoughts.
- Debut Queue: The anime applies this. Episode 1 introduced Aito, Ashisu and Otosuna, episode 2 introduced Rinna, episode 3 introduced Sena, episode 4 introduced Branya, and episode 5 introduced Minano.
- Determinator: Pervert he may be, but Aito's sheer determination to meet deadlines is almost superhuman, considering episode 9.
- Dope Slap: Otosuna to Aito if not a Megaton Punch.
- Double Standard: Abuse, Female on Male: Lampshaded in one chapter when Aito's new student is absolutely horrified and terrified by Otosuna beating the crap out of Aito. Otosuna basically tries to use this trope as her excuse and to assure said student that she'd never be beaten.
- Dropped a Bridge on Him: In That's Important, Mihari recommends Aito adding a love rival into his series to make it more interesting, against his wishes. He decided to draw in a Gary Stu-ish New Transfer Student for that purpose—who's killed in the same chapter. Mihari, of course, was not pleased.
- Dude Looks Like a Lady: Aoi, which combined with his sexuality, made for some confusing times with Aito.
- Establishing Character Moment: The very first line of the very first episode by Aito is "I want to grope some boobs." Quite accurate.
- Executive Meddling: In an In-Universe example, this actually leads to the introduction of Branya. Mihari notes that mascot characters are getting popular in manga. Aito originally opposes it with the surprisingly rational reason that it'd be out of place in his kind of manga (a Romantic Comedy full of fanservice), but then Ashisu expresses her love for cute things.
- Executive Veto: Mihari gives out a lot of these In-Universe.
- Exhausted Eyebags: Aito in episode 9's Flash Back. He hasn't slept in three days when Mihari comes over, and the deadline is in three days. He literally looks like a zombie during much of this scene as a result, and then she accidentally spills ink on his manuscript the night before the deadline...
- Fan Disservice: When Aito tries crossdressing as a woman in episode 8. He does it in an attempt to know what a woman feels like, then breastfeeds a sleeping Sena.
- Fangirl: Rinna is a fangirl of Aito's manga, so she works as his assistant despite not knowing how to draw manga at all.
- Gag Series
- Genki Girl: Tamako is most certainly one. So much so that it shows in her manga, and is also the name of the chapter she's introduced in.
- Genre Blind: Aito 95% of the time. The other 5% though, he can be surprisingly sharp. The best example is when he correctly predicted how Mihari would give him Valentines chocolate, word for word. He also somehow manages to tell Mihari's breasts grew 2 millimeters in episode 11. She has to go to his bathroom, strip down and measure herself with a tape to verify what he somehow managed to see simply by looking at her.
- Godiva Hair: Sena in episode 11 after she slips in the bathroom while attempting to bathe some cats Aito was watching for his neighbors.
- Good Eyes, Evil Eyes: Sahoto displays some evil ones in episode 11 after Aito suggests she do something to him. She then teases him, asking him if he wants to look at her panties, but then refuses to let them see it after he says he does think perverted thoughts about her.
- Green-Eyed Monster: After the high school reunion in episode 9, Aito mentions to Mihari that he's a little jealous that most of them are already married. She then tells him if they're both still single in ten years, she'd date him. Then she sends him a mixed message when he asks if she's serious.
- Harem Seeker: Aito, not like he'll have luck getting one. Well he does... somewhat. A few are willing fans of his, others are just girls who aquatint with him for the sake of work.
- Heroic BSoD: Tsurameki falls into this easily, and his response can be pretty extreme. For example, attempting to cut off his penis after a case of One Dialogue, Two Conversations made his gay editor think Tsurameki confessed to him.
- Hot-Blooded:
- Tsurameki. The chapters in which he appears are appropriately named such.
- His own manga series is called Hot Blooded just to make it clear
- Humanizing Tears: While all four of the principle girls are well-aware that Aito is an unrepentant pervert, his adorable and sincere tears just tugs at their maternal-instincts so much that they can't help but forgive him mistake after mistake, again and again (and yet again).
- Hypocritical Humor:
- Any time Aito calls someone out for being perverted.
- Shows up again in Chapter 4 of the sequel. Aito has problems with Ashisu putting her job before her personal hygeine, despite the fact that Aito has done this multiple times in the original series.
- I Have to Wash My Hair: Aito is shocked with Sahoto tells him she was given a Love Confession before in episode 10. He pries into it further, and she reluctantly reveals to him that she's never dated anyone because she was too busy working on her manga, though she's not happy about it.
- Important Haircut: In episode 9, Mihari's Flash Back to her early days as Aito's editor had a lot of headaches due to having feelings for him, and sending somewhat mixed signals to him. She then accidentally spills some ink on his finished manuscript the night before the deadline, and was going to take responsibility for ruining it, but Aito forces himself to keep going despite being really tired. In the end he manages to finish it, and she cuts her hair as a reminder to stay focused on the job and not have weird thoughts about him.
- I'm Taking Her Home with Me!: Aito wants to take Minano home but Ashisu doesn't let that happen.
- I Shall Taunt You: In Chapter 22, Meisei taunts Aito by buying all Dating Sim in Akibaharanote and shows them in front of Aito's house.
- Jerkass: Meisei. He's so much of a jerk that drove out all of his assistants, and at least temporarily, in Chapter 8, makes Aito and Tsurameki feel as if they're struggling together when they were both told off by him.
- Keet: Aito
- Lap Pillow:
- Rinna gives one to Aito in episode 10.
- Mihari also gives him one as congratulations for (seemingly) moving up in the rankings.
- Large Ham: Aito again, specifically when panties are involved.
- The Load: Having only recently learned how to draw note , Rinna is useless as an assistant. She is however, good at being Aito's personal cheerleader.
- Lovable Sex Maniac: Aito is a textbook example.
- Love Bubbles: Tends to show up whenever Aito says something sweet to Mihari, and promptly disappears after he inevitably ruins the moment.
- Love Confession:
- Mihari sort of gets one from Aito in the Flash Back during episode 9, but isn't ready to accept it quite yet. She later tells him during present day that if they're both still single in ten years, she'd date him then.
- He later forces one out of her in the sequel by threatening to burn his manuscript for the next month of his manga. Though whether or not he took it as an actual confession is debatable.
- Meaningful Name: The "moe" in Hajiratte Cafe Latte's heroine Moemi is hardly incidential, as Aito is also into moe.
- Megaton Punch: Aito is frequently on the receiving end of these, courtesy of Mihari when a Dope Slap just isn't enough.
- Mind Screw: Meisei's JOD is selling well, but to Aito's landlady it is utter incomprehensible and even say it's less entertaining than Aito's fanservice-laden Romantic Comedy.
- Mistaken for Gay: Both Aoi and Mihari thought Tsurameki confessed to Aoi at one point, which caused so much Heroic BSoD for Tsurameki in Chapter 121 that he attempted to cut his penis away out of shame. It was only averted in the nick of time by Aoi stating he likes Aito better.
- My Girl Is Not a Slut: Nothing to do with any Love Interest, but being a moe enthusiast, Aito has that kind of sentiment towards the girls he created in his manga. In one skit he actually had a Heroic BSoD just because by drawing the wrong type of Panty Shot, he inadveriantly portrayed them as sluts.
- The Napoleon: Sena, who treats her height as her Berserk Button and has heightened sense of independence because of this plus being extremely jerkass.
- Nepotism: Averted. Meisei's older brother is the deputy editor-in-chief of GonGon and also Meisei's assigned editor, but (1) Meisei's popularity owes to his own skills that nobody ever questioned, and (2) Neither his brother nor Minano tolerates his jerkass behaviour, such as sending tons of reader's questionnaires so that both Aito and Tsurameki's serii can get cancelled.
- Nice Guy: When he isn't being perverted, Aito is quite a gentleman, which causes the women who work with him to show their softer sides to him. Of course, he'll screw it up again shortly afterwards...
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero:
- Aito tends to do this a lot, causing the girls to get quite angry with him due to either real or perceived notions of pervertedness on his part.
- Mihari accidentally spills ink on Aito's finished manuscript in episode 9. This after he spent almost a week without any sleep to finish it before the deadline. She was going to accept the blame for it and probably get fired as a result, but Aito then forces himself to continue running on fumes to get a new set done overnight.
- No Indoor Voice:
- Tsurameki, by the buckets.
- Aito too, when he gets especially hammy.
- Not So Above It All:
- Sena frequently fails to keep up her serious demeanor in front of Aito, often joining in on whatever silly thing he's doing.
- Mihari is usually the one who stops all the hi-jinks but sometimes she'll get caught up in the fun.
- Even Ashisu isn't exempt from joining in on whatever crazy thing Aito's up to sometimes.
- "Not So Different" Remark: In episode 10, Aito finds out several things about Sahoto, such as she's never shared an Umbrella of Togetherness with anyone like him, nor has she had time to date anyone because of working a lot on her manga. For her part, she's not too happy about those coincidences.
- Not What It Looks Like:
- Aito sometimes has this happen when Otosuna catches him in what she thinks is perverted actions.
- He is caught groping Rinna in episode 10 by Mihari. Unfortunately however, he was asleep at the time, and Rinna was giving him a Lap Pillow. It doesn't stop Mihari from misinterpreting the situation however, and she punches him while he's sleeping.
- Ocular Gushers: Aito often has that, especially when he needs companionship.
- Officially Shortened Title: ManAshi.
- Older Than They Look:
- Super-Assistant Sena is an adult, but looks like she's about twelve or thirteen.
- EIC Minano is actually a fair bit older than Sena, and looks like she's around eight. In fact, the first time we see her in Chapter 5, she was telling to tell Aito what exactly was his problem with his manga—too much fixation on Panty Shot and—by pretending to be a random reader. For the whole time, Aito thought she was a little girl, rather than a women supposedly older than he is.
- One Dialogue, Two Conversations: In episode 9, Mihari spends the next few days at Aito's place to oversee him as he finishes the manuscript. She starts to change in the bathroom when he knocks and asks if he can come in to look at it. She assumes he wanted to see her in her underwear, reluctantly allows him to do it, only for him to then head to a laundry basket to pull out a pair of panties he bought for reference. He only notices her after she yells at him.
- Otaku: Aito calls himself this in Chapter 11 when he apologized to Sahoto about touching her with his "dirty otaku hand" when she first came to work at his house. Some of his antics would also indicate this; he is an avid Dating Sim player without much experience with women and has openly stated he likes 2D girls over 3D ones.
- Pervert Revenge Mode: One of the driving forces of the manga, practically every female cast member has beaten Aito senseless at some point.
- Pet the Dog: After Aito gets worried that he wouldn't get any chocolates on Valentines due to his perverted antics, and even fearing they would all leave him, apologizes to them profusely on sight. It then turns out everyone of them got him obligatory chocolates, which he tearfully accepts.
- Pintsized Powerhouse: For being The Napoleon, Sena averts this; her attempts in Megaton Punching Aito in Enters the Black Comet wasn't even felt by him. This is, in fact, the entire reason of her complex.
- Playboy Bunny: Rinna wears one in episode 10 to help motivate Aito working through the night to finish his manga draft. While it does work, he runs out periodically, and she cheers him on or hugs him to recharge him.
- Porn Stash: Porno Mag Comic was basically about Aito's porn stash.
- Pose of Supplication: Very often.
- Potty Dance: See below.
- Potty Emergency: Sena has one in episode 10 when the elevator she's on with Aito gets stuck. It nearly turns into a Potty Failure, and Sena considers killing Aito to preserve her decency. Then she decides to go in the bottle he had on him, only for the repairman to open the elevator for them.
- The Power of Friendship: Aito uses this frequently to beat Meisei, who despite his skill, has no friends whatsoever.
- Pragmatic Adaptation: The anime is this, focusing entirely on Aito, his assistants (Ashizu, Rina, and Sena), and Mihari, while cutting out most of the secondary cast barring the chief editor and Bra-nyaa.
- Punny Name: Pretty much all the names are puns, as well as meaningful. To wit:
- 足須 沙穂都（あしす さほと）, Ashisu Sahoto: More than a few readers have noticed Ashisu-san's name is quite similar to the japanese pronounciation of assistant.note
- 愛徒 勇気（あいと ゆうき）, Aito Yuuki: Ai to Yuuki means love and courage. Lampshaded by the official character sketches by calling him a "mangaka of love and courage."
- 音砂 みはり（おとすな みはり）, Otosuna Mihari: Otosuna means, don't drop it, but in context of deadlines for manga-ka, it means, don't miss (the deadline). Mihari means someone who watches over. She watches to make sure Aito doesn't miss his deadlines.
- 兎美都 冥聖（とみと めいせい）, Tomito Meisei: Tomi to meisei (富と名声) means fortune and fame... which Tomito has achieved.
- 皆野 まとめ（みなの まとめ）, Minano Matome: Min(n)a no matome means governs everyone. She's the chief editor, you see.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: Sahoto's eyes develop a slight red glow to them when she teases Aito in episode 11.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: Jun and Sahoto by their panties.
- Rule of Sexy: In-Universe. Hajiratte Cafe Latte basically runs on this.
- Scenery Censor: Branya does this for Sena in episode 11 when she starts to strip off her clothing in Aito's apartment while drunk off some slightly alcoholic chocolate. True to the trope, his pet covers the naughty parts of her when the camera reveals her body.
- Sequential Artist: The title made it clear that this trope is the premise. Most of the cast are involved in manga publication.
- Series Mascot: Branya, in-universe and is arguably out of universe as well.
- Serious Business:
- Aito and his Panty Shots, the latter of which is the sole reason why he became a Sequential Artist. A more specific example exists in the Panty Wars skit, when he, upon reading arguments comparing the two main types of Panty Shots, panchiranote and panmoronote , he realized by mainly drawing panmoro, he was basically portraying his female characters as sluts.
- In episode 8, after Mihari berates him for spending a lot of time playing a dating sim and falling behind schedule, Sahoto says that if he doesn't get his act together, she may give him to another editor. She then says it might be a big muscular guy, which scares him so much that he ends up doing several months of work in about a week. Fortunately for Aito, Mihari is pretty forgiving, although they argue a bit on how much time he should get to spend on video games.
- Sexy Santa Dress: Mihari wore that on Christmas Eve in Chapter 20—she forgot to tell Aito about a deadline which falls on that day until then, which makes him lose a half-day off. She has to make up for him.
- Shameless Self-Promoter: Literally. Aito goes out in the streets in one chapter to shamelessly promote his manga's first volume by passing out free panties. Course Truth in Television. If your manga hasn't gotten an anime yet, you need all the promotion you can get.
- Shipper on Deck: Sahono does this for her sister Sahoto, due to worrying about the latter becoming an Old Maid.
- Ship Tease:
- Despite the fact that Aito is surrounded by girls all the time, ship tease is somewhat rare. Aito×Mihari gets this the most though. Rinna probably comes in second, and Sena has had a moment or two as well.
- Chapter 112 shows that the person most suitable to get together with Ichika is Meisei. Said chapter becomes a foreshadowing for what happens in chapter 138.Then it goes to hell in chapter 140
- Show Within a Show: For such a premise, this is unavoidable. Aito works on Hajiratte Cafe Latte and Girl of Invasion for two chapters, Tsurameki has Hot-Blooded Fighter (which was Cut Short), Meisei has JOD: Judgement of Darkness, Tamako has Tension 1000%, Ichika's Adventure World, and Ashisu's Assistant-san to Mangaka-san. On the other hand, Aito follows an anime called Magical Girl Momoko-chan, clearly a spoof of the many seinen demographic magical girl anime.
- Sick and Wrong:
- In the first chapter of the sequel, when Jun, Ashisu's assistant knew Aito is the person behind HajiCafe, she lashed out Aito on these lines, saying, among others, that he and his readers are creepy perverts.
- Sick Episode: Can I Take Care of Her? is about Ashisu falling sick at Aito's apartment. Aito being Aito, expect Dude, She's Like in a Coma moment, despite him trying to be honourable.
- Aito himself later gets one, but when he attempts to get the girls to visit they are either too busy or think he's faking it. It isn't until they notice he wasn't flooding them with texts like he usually does, that they figure out he was serious.
- Stupid Sexy Flanders: Aito, beyond all reasoning and logic, almost got convinced to marry Aoi. Tsurameki also was convinced he had to marry Aoi, thanks to a misunderstanding and the discussion that followed.
- Sweet Tooth:
- Chief Editor Minano is rarely seen without eating something sweet.
- Sena as well, but she tends to hide it so as not to seen as Just a Kid.
- Take That!: At least partly, towards the entire genre of fanservice manga. While the series is clearly sympathetic towards Aito and his fetishes, there's no doubt it made a point of satarizing how contrived and Pandering to the Base are those. Mihari and Ashisu like to remind that those plots don't conform with Real Life romance mechanics, and it was explicitly stated Aito's manga only sold well amongst otaku. However, that itself already brought Aito a small but stable and adequate level of income.
- Talking with Signs: Branya exclusively does this.
- The Tease: Sahoto does this to Aito in episode 11 after he gives her some suggestions on how to make her manga better. She develops some red eyes and an evil look, and teases him by asking if he wants to see her panties. She's snapped out of it after Mihari enters the room a short while later.
- Tempting Fate: In episode 10 while waiting for the elevator with Aito, Sena realizes she needs to use the bathroom. But she figures she'll just hold it till they reach the next floor. Then the elevator gets stuck, and the repairman says that it might take two or three hours to get it working...
- Terrible Artist:
- In Mihari's Backstory, she actually wanted to be a mangaka, despite only having this level of art skills.
- Sahoto feels like this at times, due to her work not being good enough on its own and getting constantly rejected.
- In Chapter 99, Rinna showed Ashisu her first attempt in manga. While the story is fine, the art was terrible.
- In an odd example Aito actually likes his student's terrible art better than Ashisu's because, while Ashisu can draw better they lack character and personality, while his student's were plain but expressive.
- Thanks for the Mammaries:
- Mihari's boss does this to Sahoto in episode 8, when she asks what Aito's done with her so far. She then hints that this has to do with her manga, then later says that she just wanted to grope Sahoto, and turns down her manuscript.
- Aito does this to Rinna in episode 10. Naturally, Mihari walks in just as it's happening, and unfortunately for Aito, he was asleep at the time when he did that. Though it doesn't stop Mihari from punching him.
- Throw the Dog a Bone: While Aito's pervertedness is usually paid back with violence on the girl's part, in episode 11 none of them beat him up during their interactions with him. Sahoto does verbally abuse him, but he seemed to enjoy it a little.
- Token Mini-Moe: Sahono, Sahoto's little sister who appeared rather late in the story.
- Too Kinky to Torture: Sena tries to punish Aito for not paying her but she only ends up awakening his inner masochist because her lashes aren't strong enough to cause him serious pain.
- Trash of the Titans: Happens to Ashisu in Chapter 4 of the sequel.
- Troll: Chief Editor Minano frequently does this to Mihari. Trolling seems to be her favorite past time as a huge list could be made with chapter 120 alone.
- Tsundere: Several the most notable among them being Aito's super assistant Kuroi Sena, Mihari, and Meisei. Tsurameki is one as well for Mihari.
- Umbrella of Togetherness: Aito was hoping to do this with Sahoto in episode 10. Unfortunately she had just bought an umbrella from a store, though she at least walks home with him.
- Verbal Tic: Tamako's "Nya/Nyo".
- Wholesome Crossdresser: Aito for an episode. He's seen trying on a bra and panties at the start, but they give him the full treatment. He does it so he can better know what it's like to be a woman, and he embraces it.
- Write Who You Know: In-Universe, Ashisu finally gets her own manga by drawing one based off her own experiences with Aito. Tsurameki also ends up making a manga based on Mihari. Once it gets pointed out to him how obvious it is, he destroys it.
- Yandere: Played for Laughs in episode 10 when Sena is suffering from a Potty Emergency while stuck in an elevator with Aito. However, his Chivalrous Pervert tendencies shine through, and he says he would gladly die to preserve her honor, causing her to then hit him repeatedly instead because saying that made it impossible to hate/kill him.
- Yonkoma: Alternates between this and full page manga in the early chapters. Later chapters stay with the latter.
