Multiple Works Need Separate Pages Multiple versions or instalments of this work have been lumped into this page.Multiple Works Need Separate Pages, and this page needs to be turned into either a franchise page or a disambiguation page.
That's not a hand puppet, folks.
Why does my hand havebreasts on it?!
Midori Days (Midori no Hibi) is a story of a boy whose girlfriend is also his right hand. No, notlike that.
Seiji Sawamura is a high schooldelinquent—a rude, disrespectful punk with a "bad dude" air and a skill with fighting that can lay out entire gangs with his "devil's right hand". But underneath his tough guy exterior is a noble soul who won't hesitate to defend an underdog. He's also lonely and unlucky in love—his reputation is so frightening that no girl he knows (other than 11-year-old neighbor Shiori) wants his attention or to be seen with him.
This state of affairs grates on him—failure after failure weighs on Seiji's mind, until one day, alone at home, he bemoans the fact that he seems destined to live his lifewith only his right hand as his lover, and swears that he will accept any girl who will have him. When a strange girl's voice echoes "Really?" in the empty room, he is understandably surprised and confused—but it's nothing on how he feels a few moments later when he discovers that his right hand has turned into a miniature teenaged girl named Midori Kasugano. Hereallyshould have picked a better choice of words...
Midori, it turns out, was a perfectly normal girl from another school who idolized Seiji from afar. How she turned into his hand neither knows, but she's happy with the situation even if Seiji isn't. She has surprising mobility—not only can she move his arm at will, but if she wants to go somewhere, shecan, and drag him along behind her however unwilling he might be. And to be honest, under any other conditions Midori would be a stunning catch — beautiful, smart, domestic, utterly devoted to him, and filthy rich. But it's all outweighed (for Seiji, at least) by the fact that she's now not much bigger than a Barbie doll and grafted onto the end of his arm. Then there are the complications borne of the fact that his deadly, gang-beating right cross now has big aqua eyes and a cute giggle... And on the distaff side, what about Midori'soriginal body, now in a coma and watched over by her tearful mother?
Although against his will, Seiji finds he's starting to like Midori, he still has vast problems with both her existence as part of his body, and the impact this has on his "tough guy" image. Often he treats Midori like an embarrassing acquaintance with whom he doesn't want to be seen. Still, Midori's love forgives all, and as it turns out she has a playful and even mischievous side that no doubt helps her extract a little revenge for his more brusque and insulting moments.
Naturally there are always complications—attempts at revenge by the gangs whom Seiji has defeated, pressures at school, unpleasant relatives, the constant strain of hiding Midori from the world, and of course, now that he is in an apparently permanent relationship with a girl, other candidates finally start appearing. What's a poor tough-guy type supposed to do?
Despite its bizarre (indeed, borderline-nightmarish) premise and the gang-based violence that kicks it off,Midori no Hibi is actually a comedy, although it blends a few surprisingly sober and serious elements with its mostly-slapstick humor. There are hints that it will actually develop into a strange kind of love story between Seiji and Midori (who by the third episode habitually wears a tiny shirt dress emblazoned "I ♥ Seiji"); getting there will probably be a trip. Surprisingly, the show is free of the obviousHentai humor it could generate about their relationship.
It's surprisingly well-animated, especially for a television series; the opening credits have some positively glorious animation of clouds and other natural phenomena, character movement is smooth and natural, and it isn't stinting on multiplane and other depth-simulating effects.
Available in the United States under the titleMidori Days.
All Girls Want Bad Boys: Subverted and defied. Seijilooks like a bad boy and displays the typical teenage rebelliousness but that's all he does. However, his reputation is such that women shun him rather than being turned on by him.
All Just a Dream: Seiji and Midori both had the same dream: Midori was back in her body, but Seiji ended up as HER right hand. SeeFreaky Friday Flip below.
All Love Is Unrequited: Kouta loves Midori. Midori, Ayase, and Shiori love Seiji. And Seiji confessed his love to twenty girls and was rejected by every one.
Americans Are Cowboys: When Lucy's friend Daniel shows up to try and bring her back to America, he's dressed in...well, typical cowboy attire.
Armor-Piercing Slap: Shiori's step mom belts her one, to show her how much she cares.
Attractive Bent Gender: When Seiji dresses as a girl to catch a pervert on the train, his buddy finds Seiji "just his type". Likewise, when Kota cross-dresses, Seiji finds him incredibly attractive. So did the female gang that forced him into it.
Cannot Spit It Out: Midori before she becomes Seiji's hand, and Ayase after Seiji saves her.
Captain's Log: Midori's diary, written while Seiji is asleep.
Caretaker Reversal: In one episode, Seiji accidentally drinks a bottle of sake, and Midori tries to take care of him. When he wakes up, he feels great, but Midori is sick.
Catgirl: A costume, not a "true" catgirl, but nonetheless...
Cat Smile: Nekobe, a minor character, has this effect constantly
Character Development: Midori took a big jump at the start of the series (which we don't find out until much later). After being a rather extremeShrinking Violet for much of her life, when she finds herself attached to Seiji's arm, she takes a leap of faith and confesses her love for him. This, combined with the fact that she doesn't have to be shy since she's hidden from sight most of the time, causes her to go from garden varietyShrinking Violet to an eccentric, fun-loving,Hypercompetent Sidekick.
Seiji himself goes through some throughout the series, moving away fromViolence Is the Only Option and developing a gentler, more socially apt side, underlined by his becoming less and less critical of Midori as the series goes on. While he tends to blow off Midori's advances as airheaded or insincere, after reading her diary he comes to appreciate the depth and complexity of her feelings, giving him the courage to acknowledge that he appreciates and cares for her as a human being and not just a hand.
Chekhov's Gun: Seiji and Midori think they've gotten Takamizawa to forget about the whole thing. Buthis digital camera didn't.
Cherry Blossoms: In the opening credits, also in one picture Kota has of Midori.
Class Representative: Ayase, or at least the audience is led to believe. One panel in the manga shows that Ayase isn't the actual class rep, it's just that everyone always looks up to her instead of their real Class Rep.
Costume Porn: Some of Midori and the doll's outfits.
Cool Big Sis: Rin is a brutal and drunken version, but still loving.
Midori has had some pretty lewd dreams and fantasies, though she doesn't actually get more explicit thanThis and That. She also seems pretty eager to help Seiji in the bathroom...
Ayase happily fantasizes on how Seiji in going to save her fromdrowning, including mouth-to-mouth, and later on how they'll warm each others bodies while naked (andnot only the temperature goes up).
Ayase's most blatant moment was when she and Seiji accidentally switch video tapes after running into each other. She was expecting to have a story about a young boy and his faithful dog. She ended up with a piece of Seiji'sPorn Stash. Her response?Take notes.
Dragged Into Drag: Kota is saved from physical torture by the Crimson Angels when they decide to force him into dresses. They are instantly smitten with how cute he looks, and start fighting among themselves as to who gets to play dress-up with him.
People tend to forgetthe Native American shaman. He's shown in a surprisingly nice light. He is the only one of an entire crowd of traditional medicine and religious men that knows what really happened to Midori.
Even Creepy Otaku Have Standards: Takamizawa may be a doll fetishist with some very disturbing attitudes towards women, but even he knows that taking upskirt photos with a cellphone is not acceptable behavior.
Face of a Thug: Why he constantly has a stream of bullies challenging him, which lead to how he became so good at fighting. Unfortunately this creates hell for him when it comes to dating.
Gagging on Your Words: Seiji is incapable of saying "I love you" to Midori, even as a throwaway and joking way.
Gecko Ending: The anime is much shorter than the manga, and leaves out several females, most importantly Nao Makinoha and Lucy Winladd
On the other hand, it happened just before the manga ended, and the final resolution itself is almost identical.
Genki Girl: Midori seems to have no issues with what happened to her.
Giant Food: While it's not considered giant to anyone else, Midori greatly enjoys having her "favorite choco-banana ice cream in an extra large size" ... of course, until itmelts over her head.
Glomp: when done by a girl on one's right arm, can be painful...
Hair Colors: Mainly Midori; while Seiji is blonde, a flashback suggests that he bleaches his hair, while all other characters seem to have normal hair colours. Which makes the female lead's unique hair colour more unreal and interesting.
Notably, in the anime at least, the real Midori's hair is more of a dark green than the bright green of her smaller self...
Midori's name is written with the kanji for 'beautiful bird', but it's a homophone for 'green'.
Hachimaki: Ayase sports one momentarily when she sets out to become Seiji's girlfriend
Imagine Spot: An interesting take on the trope, where theImagine Spots are presented as a very short movie, complete with title and credits; being a reader of romance novels and manga, Ayase's also take the form of shojo manga starring her and Seiji.
Loony Friends Improve Your Personality: Seiji thinks that his problem is not being able to get a girlfriend, but that's actually just a symptom of his general inability to interact non-violently with others. Having to protect Midori and her secret, and deal with wacky people he can't just punch, brings out his better qualities.
Mad Scientist: Shirou Makinoha, who's obsessed over how Midori ended up on Seiji's hand.
Memetic Badass: In-universe example: Seiji's reputation around the school, specifically regarding his right hand. When he pretends it's broken to hide Midori, the storiesonly get wilder.
Modesty Towel: Seiji wears onein his own bathtub. Normally would be anEgregious example of the trope, but it's perfectlyjustified here since there's a girl on his arm. (And then the towelfalls off ...)
Noblewoman's Laugh: From an 11-year-old Shiori in a leather domme outfit, yet...
No Guy Wants an Amazon: Takamizawa quickly loses interest in a girl that looks like his favorite doll when he learns that she's actually a fearless martial artist.
Not What It Looks Like: Seiji's first attempt to return Midori to her comatose body made her mother faint on the spot and nearly got himlynched by a horde of angry maids.
Oblivious to Love: Seiji. Good god, the guy has so manyfemale AND male suitors, yet laments about how he can't find a girlfriend. It took pretty much the whole series for Midori (who was the most straightforward about her feelings out of all the characters) to make him understand how much she loves him; she had to be literallygrafted to his arm to succeed, also.
What makes it extra hilarious is that it's heavily implied that he liked Midori in return from the beginning of the series, and he gets really attached/possessive very fast. VERY, VERY oblivious.
Of Corpse He's Conscious: One manga chapter deals with Midori dealing with household issues while Seiji's knocked out due to drinking some tequila. This includes having to drag Seiji's body over to greet a pizza delivery man and a textbook salesman and fighting off a thief that broke into Seiji's home.
Older Than He Looks: Karate master Aoi Sakajima, a manga-only character who looks and acts like a 10 year old. The only reason people actually study under him is because he's so cute.
Otaku: Shuichi Takamizawa, a doll otaku who covets Midori.
Out-of-Genre Experience: Feudal-era Japan with Seiji as a wanted swordsman, during "Days Special".
Refuge in Audacity: Daniel's extreme condescension towards non-Americans (including trying to cheat in blatantly obvious ways and expecting them to work) combined with his frequent use of racist slurs are just so over-the-top ridiculous that they'd only seem believable in a period piece.
Repeat Cut:(Ayase hugging Seiji when she confesses to him in the anime.)
Rescue Romance: Ayase develops a romantic interest in Seiji after he rescues her from a gang.
In the manga, it wasn't quite a romantic one when he saved her. When he took a beating to save a friend and ensure said friend wouldn't get kidnapped to draw him out again, however, she started to understand him more and fall for him.
Scary Shiny Glasses: Takamizawa uses his glasses to hide his Otaku obsession. The lenses will crack to show that his emotions are becoming too much to contain, then appear undamaged when he has control again. When he's being sincere but still scary, one lens will clear while the other is opaque.
Rin, whenever plotting something embarrassing for Seiji.
Schoolgirl Lesbians: Kamaki and Suzuka. Except that Suzuka had been hiding her feelings, and Kamaki didn't realize until Suzuka said "...my beloved Kamaki-san...." Happily for both of them, she then reciprocated.
Selective Obliviousness: Seiji desperately wants a girlfriend, but is completely oblivious to Midori's and Ayase's feelings for him.
At least with Ayase, it's at least understandable given howhot and cold she treats Seiji. However, given how much Midoritalks about love, it boggles the mind how he can miss it.
He doesn't miss it, he just doesn't reciprocate the feeling.
Wholesome Crossdresser: Quite a few times in the manga: Seiji does this a couple times to catch a subway pervert and to raise some money; Kota does this too many times to count
In the Manga both Kota and Seiji crossdress on two separate occasions. Although on one on those times Kota did try to kiss Seiji so I'm not sure how "wholesome" it is...
Yaoi Fangirl: In the manga, Seiji's first crush, Yukino, ends up becoming this
Your Approval Fills Me with Shame: When Seiji refuses to sell Midori to a famous figure collector for half a million yen, the collector tells the other figureOtaku that such devotion should be an example to all. Cue awkward photo with Midori-puppet-wearing otaku.