Idol no Akahon is a short Shōnen manga by Ujiie Tozen, later known for Seitokai Yakuindomo. It was serialized for 20 chapters from June to November 2006 in Weekly Shonen Magazine.
A small talent agency accidentally books three aspiring Idol Singers at the same time. With only one manager avaliable, they're put together as a group and get the name Triple Booking.
The characters:
- Karuna Kisaraki - 16 years old, shy and reserved.
- Shiho Iida - 13 years old, frequently talks about sex and bites her tongue.
- Yuuri Arina - 10 years old, with nine of them spent in show business, making her the most experienced in the group.
- Hiroki Itoda - 23 years old, a talent scout recently turned manager.
- Reiko Kashiwagi - CEO for the Ray Princess talent agency.
- Mise Eriko - secretary at Ray Princess, secretly publishes cosplay pictures of herself online under the name Korie-chan.
Tropes associated with Idol no Akahon include:
- A-Cup Angst: When Shiho first meets Hiroki, she hits him with his purse, thinking that he's a pedophile. He explains that he's into girls with big breasts, so Shiho hits him again.
- Broken Pedestal: Subverted. The girls are delighted when they meet a famous idol and see that she's crass, cynical, and had probably been smoking since she was in her teens.
- Digging Yourself Deeper: Yuuri brings Hiroki to her middle school, wanting him to scout potential talents among her schoolmates. Naturally, it doesn't take long for a teacher to wonder what he's doing there. Yuuri then tries to defend him by explaining that "he and I have a special relationship".
- I Take Offense to That Last One: When Hiroki hands Karuna 1000 yen in public to buy soda, Shiho says that it might look like a case of Compensated Dating. Karuna's response is that she's never do that for such a small sum.
- Lovable Sex Maniac: While about half of Shiho's sexual talk are Freudian Slips, the rest are intentional. Yuuri also brings up such things from time to time.
- No Hugging, No Kissing: Reiko tells the girls that they can't be dating people since they have to appear avaliable for their audience.
- No Periods, Period: Averted. Shiho argues that as a manager, Hiroki be prepared for all of their needs, including feminine hygiene products. He disagrees.
- Perpetual Frowner: Karuna. She gets through photoshoots by faking a smile, but when the others ask her to smile in an everyday situation, this◊ is the result.
- Tsundere: Invoked by Reiko. One of her ways to get their pictures published is to bring the photos to a magazine editor while blushingly pointing out that "It's not like I came here to see you".
- V-Sign: As Shiho is making the V-Sign, Karuna holds up her fist and annonuces that she won a game of rock-paper-scissors.
- You Just Told Me: Mise denies being Korie-chan until Shiho looks at one photo and remarks "Your panties are showing here", which causes a shocked Mise to double-check it.